MANILA – Ilongga amateur boxer Irish Magno is determined to fare well in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as she plans to immediately go back to putting on the weights weeks after clinching berth in the world’s biggest sporting event.
Magno said in an interview that she was delighted to have punched a ticket to the Olympics after winning her box-off with Tajikistan’s Sumaiya Qosimova via unanimous decision during the 2020 Asia and Oceania Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Amman, Jordan on March 11.
“Balik training ulit po. Talagang napakasaya ko po at proud matapos mag-qualify,” said Magno, who will join fellow boxer Eumir Felix Marcial in Tokyo.
Her road to the Olympics was not easy. She lost against China’s Cai Zongju in the first round of the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) in October last year.
The Ilongga also bowed down to Vietnam’s Thi Tam Nguyen in the women’s flyweight finals of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games to settle for the silver medal, adding that it marked her second defeat to the Vietnamese, whom she first lost to in the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament 2018.
Although Magno already qualified despite a tough road, the Ilongga is also optimistic that her fellow amateur boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam can still secure the last tickets to the Olympics after falling short during the qualifiers.
She said: “May pag-asa pa naman si Nesh (Petecio) at Carlo. Balik ensayo rin si Nesh at nakarating na rin po dito sa Baguio.”/PN
