By Aadi Nair
PARIS (Reuters) -Cuban Arlen Lopez Cardona's bid for a record-equalling third Olympic gold medal ended when he was eliminated from the men's light-heavyweight boxing competition on Sunday in a semi-final defeat by Ukraine's Oleksandr Khyzhniak.
Twice champion Lopez Cardona had no answers to the Tokyo silver medallist’s pace and power, losing by a split decision as Khyzniak progressed to the final.
The defending champion started in promising fashion and took the first round, but Khyzniak did well to recover and pummelled his opponent to convincingly win the third and clinch a spot in the final where he will fight world champion Nurbek Oralbay of Kazakhstan in the final.
Lopez Cardona, middleweight champion at the 2016 Rio Games and light heavyweight champion in Tokyo, was looking to become only the fourth boxer to win three Olympic golds alongside Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon and Laszlo Papp.
His teammate Julio Cesar La Cruz, who was attempting to achieve the same feat, was eliminated last week.
Lightweight Erislandy Alvarez, who faces France's Sofiane Oumiha in the men's lightweight semi-final on Wednesday, is Cuba's only remaining hope for a gold medal.
The Olympic boxing superpower can win just two medals at this Games. The country last won fewer than three boxing medals at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, when they won two silvers.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair; editing by Clare Fallon and Ed Osmond)
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