MANILA – Ilongga boxer Irish Magno saw her 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign come to an end after a bowing down to Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the women’s 48-51-kilogram round-of-16 match on Thursday at the Kokukigan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The Janiuay, Iloilo-native was outclassed by Jitpong via unanimous decision and became the first Philippine boxer to be booted out in the Summer Games.
Both fighters tested each other in the opening round with limited punch executions, but Jitpong unloaded solid punches to earn the nod of five juries.
Magno threw some killer punch combinations to stun the foe yet failed in her attempt. She went for the kill in the third and final round but could not connect cleanly, while Jitpong managed to penetrate the defense with straight punches to secure the win.
It was a heartbreaking loss for first-time Olympian Magno since she had defeated Jitpong in the preliminary round of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Filipino boxer Eumir Marcial was impressive in his Olympic debut after crushing Nemouchi Younes of Algeria via referee stop contest-injury in the first round of the round-of-16 middleweight division bout.
The referee halted the match with over a minute left when the ring doctor deemed that Younes cannot continue due to a bloody cut on his right eyebrow.
Prior to the stoppage, Marcial already displayed his dominance on Younes with his volume punches, including a straight punch that knocked down the Algerian amateur champion.
He is set to face Armenian fighter Arman Darchinyan in the quarterfinals.
“I was able to face Darchinyan before, and I have defeated him. However, the Olympics is a different competition so, I have to be ready,” Marcial said in an interview with ONE Sports’ Paolo del Rosario.
On the other hand, Negrense golfer Juvic Pagunsan started strong in the men’s individual stroke play freestyle on Thursday after ending the first round tied at fifth place (seventh in the rankings) with -5 thru 18 holes./PN
