Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko dominated the final ring against Frenchman Khedafi Djelkhir on Saturday night to win an easy Olympic gold medal in the boxing 57kg category.

Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine reacts during Men's Feather (57kg) Final Bout between Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine and Khedafi Djelkhir of France of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games boxing event at Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing, China, Aug. 23, 2008. Vasyl Lomachenko defeated Khedafi Djelkhir, and won the gold medal of the event.[Xinhua Photo]

Lomachenko proved himself much superior in power and speed, punching his French rival so fast and hard that the referee stopped the fight after three standing counts and awarded the Ukrainian the victory.

After the match, the happy winner said: "I was preparing my tactical plan for the fight thinking that there would be all four rounds, but in the course of the first round I felt that I could box more intensively. I was feeling quite well physically and mentally."

The French admitted that Lomachenko was better than him this time. "I did not manage to find my rhythm," he said: "It (the fight) was very hard and very rapid."

Djelkhir won the silver medal, and Turkish Yakup Kilic and Azerbaijani Shahin Imranov shared the bronze medals.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2008)