Najah Ali’s fight is for his country

‘‘It was for all the people looking at me, the Iraqi people,’’ he said. ‘‘I want (the world) to see that I’m simple, like all Iraqis. I’m normal.’’

His story is anything but. With ‘Iraq is back’ written in English and Arabic on the light flyweight’s kid-sized shirt, Ali landed three times more blows than Kwak Hyok Ja of North Korea, winning 21-7.

This, just two months after he went 0-2, one of them a mauling, in the inaugural Titan Games at Philips Arena. Wednesday was his first formal bout since.

‘‘I thought he was just a novice boxer, just blessed with an opportunity,’’ said US coach Basheer Abdullah, who assisted in Ali’s corner, recalling his initial memory of Ali.

After the Titan Games, Ali trained with the US team, sparring against its finest fighters. ‘‘He adopted our system,’’ Abdullah said. Without the American aid, ‘‘He probably wouldn’t have won.’’

Even though his tales seem tall, Watkins is collecting the numbers of Hollywood scriptwriters on his speed dial. A former mid-level fighter, he went to Iraq when his family’s pest-control business landed a deal and improbably wound up as coach of the one-man Olympic boxing team.

Iraq’s six-sport contingent here came with modest expectations, Iraqis having suffered under the cruel guidance of the late Olympics chief, Uday Hussein. His systematic torture of them dried out the pool of potential athletes.

But the soccer team opened with two victories, assuring promotion to the quarter-finals. A judo player took his opening match. Swimmer Mohammad Abbas won his 100-meter freestyle heat, never mind that it was the slowest and he failed to advance.

His reception was a continuation from the Opening Ceremony, when the crowd’s applause for Iraq was second only to Greece’s. ‘‘We were surprised,’’ said Ahmed Al-Samarrai, president of its Olympics committee. ‘‘Everybody gives us a kind of spirit and cheer. They know what our situation is.’’

During soccer games, he said, ‘‘it’s almost a cease-fire’’ in Baghdad, with Iraqis preoccupied with their TVs to engage in battle. Ali could not speak for his country, but said ‘‘the city where I live, they are all jumping’’ for joy.

(The New York Times)