A late bus resulted in boxer Ruben Casero's disqualification from his Olympic qualifying tournament.
Casero, from Uruguay, was supposed to fight Prince George's Kenny Lally in a preliminary bout Monday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Unfortunately for Casero, what should have been a 10-minute bus ride to the boxing arena took 45 because of a traffic jam. Consequently, he missed the scheduled start time for his bout with Lally and was forced to accept the fact his tournament was over before it had started.
"It was a heartbreaker," said Bob Pegues, who coaches Lally. "The guy showed up outside of the venue just as his fight was called off. And unfortunately the rules are the rules. They couldn't make any adjustments for him."
Without having to lift a glove, Lally was awarded the victory and will now face Jeyvier Cintron of Puerto Rico in the quarterfinals today. The semifinals are set for Friday.
Lally, in the flyweight (52-kilogram) division, will guarantee himself a trip to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London if he advances to Sunday's final.
