MANILA – Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam moved a win closer to Olympic gold medal after a unanimous decision victory over Japanese Ryomei Tanaka in the men’s flyweight semifinals of 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Thursday at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The Cagayan de Oro City native Paalam edged the hometown bet after getting the nod of all the judges, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28, in three rounds.
Paalam started the opening round strong by unloading vicious hits to Tanaka’s head and body. The Filipino fighter continued his rampage in the second round and wobbled the Japanese foe with his quick combinations.
Sensing defeat, Tanaka went aggressive in the third period and resorted to wrestling-like moves against Paalam. The Filipino managed to unload volume punches to secure his semifinals triumph.
Paalam will now try to go for the country’s best finish in the Olympic boxing when he battles Galai Yafai of Great Britain in the gold medal match at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Eumir Felix Marcial, meanwhile, failed to duplicate Paalam’s feat as he suffered a split decision loss to Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in the men’s middleweight division semifinals to settle for a bronze medal.
Unlike his matches against Younes Nemouchi and Arman Darchinyan, the Zamboanga City native Marcial was heavily battered by Khyzniak in the first round, where he sustained a cut above his head.
Marcial bounced back in the second round and connected multiple hits, but Khyzniak outclassed him with solid punches despite having a cut near his nose.
In the final round, Khyzniak connected punch-after-punch to Marcial’s body and face. The latter attempted to retaliate but failed to penetrate the former’s defense for a stunning defeat.
On the other hand, golfer Bianca Pagdanganan struggled in the second round of the women’s single stroke play and dropped to joint 27th place with her two-under par score, while Yuka Saso showed some improvement and climbed to 34th place with an even par./PN
