MANILA, Philippines – Carlo Paalam bid farewell to his goal of repeating as an Olympic medalist.
Paalam saw his Paris Games campaign come to a screeching halt after a crushing split decision loss to Australia’s Charlie Senior in the men’s boxing 57kg quarterfinals at the North Paris Arena on Sunday, August 3.
In one of the most tightly contested fights of this Olympics, Senior earned the nod of three of the five judges by scores of 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, with the other two giving it 30-27, 29-28 to Paalam.
Paalam, who won silver in the Tokyo Games three years ago, fell a wee bit short of a guaranteed medal as he lost the third round, 2-3.
Senior repeatedly raised his hand to signal to the judges of his hits, although there were instances when he pulled off the move even when he missed.
The bout could not have been any tighter after the first two rounds as Paalam and Senior each led in two scorecards, while the fifth judge counted it a tie going into the final salvo.
Paalam is the third Filipino boxer to bow out of contention after Eumir Marcial (men’s 80kg) and Hergie Bacyadan (women’s 75kg) dropped their opening bouts.
The task of delivering the Philippines the elusive Olympic boxing gold now falls on the shoulders of Nesthy Petecio (women’s 57kg) and Aira Villegas (women’s 50kg).
Petecio and Villegas are both a win away from the semifinals and a sure bronze. – Rappler.com
