MANILA – Filipino amateur boxer Eumir Felix Marcial punched a ticket all the way to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic after barging in the semifinals of the Asia/Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Amman, Jordan on March 8.
Marcial formalized his berth into the Olympics, which is in danger of getting cancelled due to the coronavirus disease 2019, after slamming Mongolia’s Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdene in the men’s middleweight quarterfinals match.
The Filipino boxer, known as the reigning 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships’ silver medalist, stunned his Mongolian opponent in the third and final round via a powerful right hand.
Prior to that, Marcial was deducted a point by the referee for accidentally hitting Otgonbaatar on the back of the head for more than once.
That triggered the Filipino to become more determined. However, as he landed solid blows on his opponent, the referee was prompted to give the Mongolian two standing counts, with the final deciding to halt the contest.
Marcial, who is a first-time Olympian, is the third Filipino to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics aside from pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena and gymnast Carlos Yulo.
On the other hand, Negrense featherweight boxer Ian Clark Bautista lost to his 2019 Southeast Asian Games tormentor Chatchai-decha Butdee of Thailand, 5-0, in the quarterfinals.
Another Negrense suffered the same fate. James Palicte blew his opening round match in the lightweight division against Elnur Abduraimov of Uzbekistan./PN
