As expected, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam dominated Edegar Foe Quintas Da Silva of Timor Leste to barge into the finals of the boxing competitions of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games Thursday at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall G here. Paalam, 24, proved to be an elusive target and scored a unanimous 5-0 victory in the semifinals of their bantamweight duel to assure himself of a silver medal. Paul Julyfer Bascon knocked out Touch Davit of Cambodia in the second round to enter the men’s light welterweight finals and also assured himself of a silver. The only Pinoy casualty was Markus Cezar Tongco, who lost to Manh Cuong Nguyen of Vietnam in the men’s heavyweight semifinals via referee stoppage, and settled for the bronze medal. In all, nine Pinoy boxers will fight for gold medals on Saturday and Sunday. The rest are flyweight Rogen Ladon, featherweight Ian Clark Bautista, lightweight Norlan Petecio, and light heavy John Marvin, women’s featherweight Nesthy Petecio, lightweight Riza Pasuit and Tokyo Olympian flyweight Irish Magno.

Source: Philippines News Agency