Tañamor, Payla redeem RP pride

HYDERABAD, India – Motivated by their desire to avenge their compatriot’s controversial loss in an otherwise won match outside the ring, Harry Tañamor and Violito Payla fashioned out a pair of convincing victories to barge into the championship round of the boxing competitions of the first Afro-Asia Games at the GMC Balayogi Stadium, Gachibowli here late Wednesday.

The power-punching Tañamor showed the stuff that won him the silver medal in the Busan Asian Games and other countless international titles as he dominated Kazakhstan’s Serik Sikymbayev from start to finish. He ran away with a 28-6 rout in their semifinal clash in the lightflyweight division.

In contrast, Payla proved cool and calculating, but had to buck a shaky start to beat Kim Ki-suk, 21-12, and show the talented South Korean fighter that he erred in opting to go a weight higher after beating Tañamor and bagging the gold medal in the Busan Asiad last year.

Not only did the twin victories assure the Philippines of two silver medals but they more than made up for Ferdie Gamo’s setback Tuesday when the Filipino bantam’s 2-1 verdict over Malik Bouyiane was reversed following a protest by the Algerian contingent.

"Gigil na gigil ang mga bata na makabawi dun sa pagkatalo ni Ferdie," said Pat Gaspi, coach of the RP team whose campaign here is backed by Revicon, Accel, Pacific Heights and the Philippine Sports Commission.

But for Gaspi, getting into the finals is one thing, beating the Indians for the gold is another.

Truly, Tañamor and Payla will not only have their tough Indian rivals to contend with but also the boisterous crowd which, as in past international amateur boxing competitions, could tilt the balance in favor of the home bet.

Tañamor takes on Mohd Ali Qamar, who came away with a 21-12 rout of Ethiopian Endelkalchew Kebede, while Payla clashes with Akhil Kumar, who whipped Paulus Ambunda of Namibia, 44-25, in the finals set Friday.

Roel Laguna bowed to Uzbek Dilshod Mahmudov, 5-32, and settled for bronze in the lightweight division.

"Nanakit ang kamao ko sa kaka-right cross," said the 25-year-old Tañamor, who stepped up his attack on the Kazakh bet’s body early before piling up points on head blows. "Pero kailangan mas solido ang ipakita ko sa finals dahil Indiano ang kalaban."

The soft-spoken Payla said he was taken aback by the aggressiveness of the Korean fighter in the early going and was even behind on points when he stepped back into the center in the second round. But once he got going, there was no stopping the veteran Filipino campaigner.

"Second round na nang nakapag-adjust ako, pero nung nakuha ko na yung laro nya, inatake ko na at mabuti naman at maganda ang mga patama ko," said Payla.

Meanwhile, middle distance runner John Lozada and the squad of Rod Tanuan, Ronnie Marfil, Jimar Aying and Ernie Candelario wrap up the tracksters’ campaign here late Thursday with Lozada competing in the 800m run and the quartet in the 4x100m relay.

The athletics team of Patafa president Go Teng Kok produced a silver when Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito finished behind fancied Anju George of India in the long jump event Wednesday. Gabito, coached by Joseph Sy, had a 6.30 in leap to nip Nigerian Esther Aghatise for the silver.

Unlike in Gabito’s showing, Go said he doesn’t expect any medal-haul from Lozada and company owing to the depth of the competing field but expressed hopes that they would be able to improve their respective clockings, this being part of their buildup and exposure for the coming SEA Games in Vietnam in December.

After five days of action, the Philippines had a 0-2-7 (gold-silver-bronze) harvest, the last two bronzes courtesy of the pair of Adelo Abadia and Johnny Arcilla who bowed to India’s Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi, 3-6, 2-6, in the men’s doubles semis; and Czarina Arevalo, who lost to Sania Mirza, also of India, 4-6, 1-6, in the ladies’ singles semis.

The netters actually assured the country of an eight bronze when the women’s doubles pair of Arevalo and Patricia Santos beat Nigeria’s Osaru Amadin and Clara Udofa, 6-3, 7-6, in the quarters to arrange a semis clash with Indonesia.