JAKARTA - With the boxing competition of the 18th Asian Games nearing the medal rounds, only three Filipino boxers from an original pool of eight are still in contention.
One of them, flyweight Rogen Ladon, is already assured of at least a bronze medal after hacking out a tight split decision win over Azat Mahmetov of Kazakhstan in their quarterfinal match Tuesday night at the Jakarta International Expo.
Two others, light flyweight Carlo Paalam and middleweight Eumir Marcial, see action Wednesday hoping to join Ladon in the medal rounds.
Should Paalam and Marcial advance to the semifinals, it would give the boxing delegation three medals. But Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary-general Ed Picson says there should have been more Filipino boxers still in contention.
"Quite frankly, I expected a lot more," Picson told ESPN5 at the Games' media center where he and ABAP president Ricky Vargas paid a surprise visit to Filipino journalists. "Unfortunately fate interceded. Nesthy Petecio was definitely robbed of a victory, Mario Fernandez ran into a sucker punch, James Palicte I thought did enough to win but we didn't get the breaks."
Petecio was left stunned after the referee raised the arm of China's Yin Junhua following their women's featherweight round of 16 bout which many observers felt the Filipina clearly won, while bantamweight Fernandez was all but assured of victory over Iraq's Al Sudani Jaafar in their round of 16 bout when the Iraqi landed a right from out of nowhere to the side of his head in the third round that left him sprawled on the canvass. Palicte lost a lopsided decision to Uzbekistan's Shunkor Abdurasulov in their lightweight round of 16 clash.
Two other boxers, welterweight Carlo Bacho and women's flyweight Irish Magno lost clear decisions in their opening bouts.
Picson though is confident that the remaining three boxers will deliver as the ABAP tries to surpass their boxers' 0-1-3 output four years ago in Incheon.
"Rogen Ladon, Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial are three of our most solid boxers," he said. I have a lot of faith in them. They can go all the way."
Paalam, who looked impressive in his unanimous decision win over Tu Powei of Chinese Taipei, faces Temirtas Zhussupov of Kazakhstan, while Marcial, coming off an equally impressive knockout of professional fighter Ng Kuok Kun of Macau, battles Kim Jinjea of Korea.
"We've told the coaches to work hard and we have our sports psychologist Marcus Manalo tending to their psychological needs and giving them inspiration and motivation," Picson added. "Their nutritional needs are being monitored. Every aspect is being covered as much as we can. We're doing everything to have them as prepared as possible. It's all up to them, what they do in the ring. But like I said we have faith and confidence in these three boxers and we're optimistic about the results that they will give us."