By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
  SYDNEY -- The Canadian boxing team arrived in Sydney two weeks ago with a lot of baggage -- and we're not talking Samsonite here.

 From the start of the team's final pre-Olympic Games training camp last month in Hawaii to the shocking defeat of light-heavyweight Troy Ross early yesterday, one strange incident after another has befallen the squad.

 It's little wonder the team hasn't performed up to expectations and has only two fighters left in the tournament: Toronto heavyweight Mark Simmons and super-heavy Artur Binkowski of Waterloo.

 "It definitely has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions," coach Wayne Gordon said.

 The squad arrived in Sydney battered and bruised. Middleweight Donny Orr, who lost in the first round to Jitender Kumar of India, had his nose broken by a teammate during a training session in Hawaii. He couldn't make final training preparations and looked rusty and tentative against Kumar.

 CONTROVERSIES

 Light-middleweight Scott MacIntosh suffered a gash under his eye while horsing around with another Canadian boxer before the Games, a cut that quickly opened up in his first-round match with Saki Bika Mbah of Cameroon. Fortunately, MacIntosh's corner was able to stem the flow of blood and the Sydney, N.S., schoolteacher was able to keep fighting.

 Then there were the usual coaching controversies: Dewith Fraser, the personal coach of Simmons and Ross, was not able to get his credentials for the start of the Games and blamed the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association. There were reports of team coaches feuding with each other and boxers feuding with coaches.

 There were the usual weight problems and bad draws. But all of that paled in comparison with Ross' loss at the hands of little-known Nigerian Jegbefumere Albert. With the bout tied 7-7 in the third round, southpaw Albert nailed Ross with a straight left. Ross, who finished fifth at the 1996 Atlanta Games, collapsed to the canvas but was able to get up before Turkish referee Alp Bartu counted to eight. Bartu then stunned everyone by stopping the fight.

 Early this morning, even after flyweight Andrew Kooner's 11-7 points loss to crafty Thai southpaw Wijan Ponlid, the team was still trying to come to grips with the Ross loss.

 'SILENT LEADER'

 "Troy was our silent leader," said Simmons, who seemed shocked by the defeat of his clubmate. "He was the one who was supposed to win gold here.

 "It's like going home and finding your wife in bed with another man," Gordon said. "It's tough."

 The news didn't get any better. After his loss, Kooner, considered one of the team's future stars, announced he likely will turn professional rather than wait for the 2004 Games.

 "There has been a lot of bad decisions," the 21-year-old Kooner said. "I'm not being a bad sport, I lost the fight ... but I kind of feel I'm ready to take it to the next level, where the guys can't run from you for (four) rounds. I'm not going to be a Mike Strange and hang around three Olympics."

 It will be interesting to see what kind of team Canada will enter for the Athens Olympics in 2004. Ross, Kooner and Simmons likely will be pros. Strange has retired. Orr probably will, too. Binkowski is a question mark. There won't be many name fighters left in the program.

 "We have a very strong junior team," said Yvon Michel, coach of the 1996 Olympic team.

 "But CABA has to provide some real leadership."

 Simmons, 26, fights Sebastian Kober of Germany tomorrow. Binkowski, 25, meets tough Uzbek Rustam Saidov on Wednesday. A win would put both in the medal round.