Gamo misses Olympic bid in Karachi

KARACHI, Pakistan — Ferdie Gamo had the bad luck of drawing a Thai for an opponent in the opening round of the third Asian Olympic boxing qualifying tournament (Green Hill Cup) here Thursday.

The end result had the RP-Alaxan FR team down to a three-man unit as Gamo fell down to Vietnam Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Worapoj Petchkoom, 23-12, in their bantamweight fight at the KPT Sports Complex.

Gamo, of Bago City, fought Petchkoom aggressively, tagging his Thai foe with frequent left-right combinations to the head and crisp shots to the body.

But the 23-year old Thai wisely used his edge in height and reach to the hilt to keep the Filipino pug at bay.

While Petchkoom, indeed, got the better end of the fight, RP coaches George Caliwan and Pat Gaspi thought the outcome of the match was closer than what the final score reflected.

"Hindi naman siguro dapat ganoon kalayo ang score. Pumupuntos naman tayo e," said Caliwan.

Despite the initial setback of the team supported by Alaxan-FR, Philippine Sports Commission, Pacific Heights and Accel, Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manny Lopez remains upbeat about the Filipinos’ campaign in this week-long meet featuring 29 countries.

"Ferdie did his best. But we have to leave behind this setback and move on. We still have three boxers left and I’m confident they’ll be able to hurdle all of the challenges ahead," said Lopez.

Of the three, Harry Tanamor and Junard Ladon plunged into action early evening Friday while Jennibert Basadre makes his debut today.

Tanamor, the country’s most successful amateur boxer in the country the past two years, takes on Sri Lankan Harsha Kumara.