By Adrian Stewart Co
Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam moved a win closer to gold medal after a unanimous decision win over Japanese Ryomei Tanaka in the men’s flyweight semifinals of 2020 Tokyo Olympics yesterday at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The Cagayan de Oro City-native Paalam had all the answers against the hometown boxer to get the nod of all the five judges, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.
Paalam started strong in the opening round as he unloaded vicious hits to the head and body. The Filipino fighter continued his rampage in the second round as he wobbled the Japanese with his quick combinations.
Sensing defeat, Tanaka went aggressive in the third period as he resorted to wrestling-like moves on Paalam. The Filipino managed to unload cleaner looks to secure his semifinals triumph.
Paalam will now try to go for the country’s best finish in Olympic boxing when he battles Galai Yafai of Great Britain in the gold medal match at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 7.
Eumir Felix Marcial, meanwhile, failed to duplicate the feat of Paalam as he suffered a split decision loss to Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in the men’s middleweight division semifinals to settle for bronze medal.
Unlike in his first two matches against Younes Nemouchi and Arman Darchinyan, the Zamboanga City-native Marcial was battered by Khyzniak in the opening round with the Filipino suffering a cut above his head.
Marcial went aggressive in the second round and was able to connect cleaner punches but Khyzniak managed to retaliate with his combinations despite sustaining a cut near his nose.
In the third round, Khyzniak unloaded punch after punch to Marcial’s body and face. The Filipino attempted to retaliate but was unable to penetrate the defense of his opponent for a stunning defeat.
Meanwhile, Filipina golfer Bianca Pagdanganan struggled with her shots, while Yuka Saso showed some improvement in the second round of the women’s single stroke play, which is reportedly to be shortened due to anticipated storm in Tokyo this weekend.
Pagdanganan dropped to joint 27th place in the standings with her 2-under-par score after finishing at seventh the first round, while Saso moved up to 34th place with an even par./ASC, WDJ