Cuban boxing cloud has only a silver lining

Cuba, rocked by the defections of five leading fighters, managed to get eight of their 10 boxers into the semis and four into the finals but finished with silver each time. 8220;The boxing team is very young and I8217;m happy with them. It8217;s true we haven8217;t won a gold medal, but I8217;m not aware of any problems,8221; Leon said after his loss to Mongolia8217;s Badar-Uugan Enkhbat.

Banteaux was outclassed 18-9 by Kazakhstan8217;s Bakhyt Sarsekbayev. On Saturday, Andris Laffita was easily beaten by Thailand8217;s Somjit Jongjohor while Emilio Correa narrowly lost the middleweight final to Briton James DeGale.

Head coach Pedro Roque said eight silver medals was still a remarkable achievement after the team8217;s defection problems.

8220;They came here with no experience, and they8217;ve won eight medals. No gold, I know, but nobody was expecting more than one or two medals at all for us,8221; he said. 8220;Now we have not only eight medals, but also a team with Olympic experience ready to start preparing for the next Olympics.8221;

Havana8217;s communist regime does not allow boxers to turn professional, giving them the edge in amateur competitions such as the Olympics.