Olympics-Boxing-Colombia, Uzbekistan advance to men's flyweight final

By Paulo Prada RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Colombia's Yurberjen Martinez and Uzbekistan's Hasanboy Dusmatov advanced to the flyweight final in Olympic boxing on Friday, the morning that women also began fighting at Rio 2016. Securing at least silver for each of the two victors, and bronzes for each of the losers, the bouts defined the first boxers to receive medals in the ongoing tournament. Martinez, 24, is the first Colombian to win an Olympic boxing medal in 28 years and would be the first to ever win gold or silver for the South American country. "We have had a drought," he said. "We are making history but there is still a final bout to fight." Because of rules that prohibit a third-place fight between those who lose their semifinals, American Nico Hernandez and Cuba's Joahnys Argilagos, a 2015 world champion, both take home a bronze. Hernandez, a 20-year-old who scored an upset over Russia's Vasilii Egorov in the preliminary round earlier this week, becomes the first boxer from the U.S. to win an Olympic medal since Beijing 2008. Third place, though, wasn't what Hernandez was after. "I didn't want to go home with the bronze," he said. "I was definitely disappointed." His compatriot, lightweight Carlos Balderas, missed an opportunity to win a second medal for the United States, losing a unanimous quarterfinal decision to Cuba's Lazaro Alvarez. Meanwhile, Brazil's Robson Conceição, a 27-year-old lightweight, won his quarterfinal, guaranteeing the host country its first boxing medal in Rio, a Games at which Brazil so far has fallen short of its stated goal of finishing among the top ten countries in medals. The women's competition, the second-ever following the debut of female boxers in London four years ago, began early Friday with bouts between fighters from countries including Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Canada. Brazil's Adriana Araujo, a bronze medalist in London, lost a lightweight bout with Mira Potkonen of Finland, but was cheered enthusiastically by the local crowd. Compared with the men's bouts, which feature three rounds of three minutes each, the women's fights consist of four, two-minute rounds. (Reporting by Paulo Prada, editing by Susanna Twidale)