BEIJING, China (CMC):

Outstanding welterweight boxers Taureano Johnson and John Jackson registered fine Caribbean wins in the ring on day two of the 2008 Beijing Olympics yesterday.

Bahamian Johnson roughed up Grenada's Roland Moses for a lopsided 18-3 points victory, while Jackson, of the US Virgin Islands, executed a measured plan to snatch a narrow win 4-2 over Mahamad Nirudzinau of Belarus.

Elsewhere, the English-speaking Caribbean swimmers were unable to keep afloat in the swimming pool, while the Bahamian tennis players Mark Knowles and Devin Mullings could be forgiven for thinking they were at the swimming venue when heavy rain flooded the courts at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre.

Moses outgunned

The experienced Johnson easily outgunned Moses in their afternoon bout at the Workers' Gymnasium.

A seven-time Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association (CABA) Championship gold medallist, Johnson gave a polished display to defeat Moses to advance to the second round.

Moses, a 27-year-old 'invited' participant at the Games, started very positively and actually grabbed the first point of the bout with a sharp left-right combination. But Johnson, who gave up height and reach advantage, responded decisively and by the end of the opening round, had jumped into a 6-2 lead.

Johnson, after leading 15-2 at the end of the second round, executed relentless pressure on Moses, who incurred a standing count from the Tunisian referee Hassen Boughalmi in round three. Moses was shut out 0-9 in the third round.

Neither boxer scored in the last round and Johnson ran out an easy 15-point winner, advancing to face Ukraine's Olexandr Strets'kyy in the round of 16. Strets'kyy defeated the Dominican Republic's Gilbert Lenin Castillo 9-6 in his bout yesterday afternoon.

Jackson picked up his win in the night session.

After a scoreless first round, Jackson and Nurudzinau were on the verge of another blank round when the 19-year-old Caribbean ace clutched a point in the dying seconds of round two with a solid left hook.

Strong third round

Nurudzinau had a strong third round and outscored Jackson 2-0 to level the points at 2-2 entering the last round.

Jackson, who won a World Cadet (Under-16) Championship bronze in England in 2005, used a watchful approach in the last round. Nurudzinau was aggressive and pressed hard for power punches but Jackson had sturdy defence and good footwork to keep him at bay and then peppered the European with a flurry of punches near the end to win by two points.

PERSONAL BEST

The English-speaking Caribbean swimmers all logged personal-best times although they failed to advance in their events.

Bermuda's Kiera Aitken won the first heat of the women's 100-metre backstroke in one minute 02.62 ahead of Paraguay's Virginia Baez (1:05.39).

Bahamian Alana Dillette clocked 1:02.56 for fourth in heat three that Colombia's Carolina Colorado won in 1:01.19.

Shaune Fraser, of the Cayman Islands, placed fifth in the heat five of the men's 200-metre heats in 1:48.60, which Israel's Nimrod Shapira won in 1:47.78.

St Lucian Danielle Beaubrun picked up third place in the women's 100-metre breaststroke heat three in a new national record one minute 12.85 seconds. Kazakhstan's Yekaterina Sadovnik won that heat in 1:11.14.