Salazar robbed of gold; RP pugs settle for silver, bronze

SEREMBAN, Malaysia – Light flyweight Lhyven Salazar, who put up what his coaches claimed was a winning performance, settled for the silver medal after being outpointed by a pressure-punching South Korean at the close of the 21st World Amateur Boxing Championship here Tuesday.

The Philippine anthem was not played but the national flag rose twice in the award rites after the eight-man RP-Caltex team collected two medals – a silver and a bronze – in the tough tournament participated in by 29 nations.

Bantamweight Ferdie Gamo, who picked up the bronze after being cheated out of his quarterfinal match, could only stare in dismay as the Uzbek slugger, whom he had pummeled and dominated, claimed the gold medal in his division.

Salazar, a gold medalist in Acropolis and Bosnia, was his old sharp self as he scored with clear blows to the head of the onrushing Hong Moo Won.

The peppery Korean, although often receiving hefty shots, tried to keep it even and flailed at Salazar in the fourth round.

Salazar, who claimed he had an easy fight, was stunned with the final count that had him losing, 11-17.

The fight was close but RP coach George Caliwan said that, "objectively" Salazar should have bagged the gold for the team funded by Caltex with backing from the Philippine Sports Commission, Pacific Heights and Revicon.

Powerhouse Uzbekistan, with four gold medals, topped the tournament. Other gold winners were Pakistan (two), Thailand (two), China (two), Malaysia (one) and South Korean (one).

"On the whole, I’m very satisfied with the showing of the team," said Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manny Lopez. "This stint will help us greatly in preparing for the Asian Games. Now, we really know what to do."

Lopez, however, said that if the same biased scoring recurs in Busan in September, there would be chaos and controversy.

It’s no secret among athletes and officials here that some of the finest fighters who should have been in the gold medal round had been booted out of contention through strange and often questionable scoring system.

The national team headed for home yesterday.