Tañamor loses ‘non-bearing’ duel

KARACHI, PAKISTAN — RP-Alaxan FR team’s Harry Tañamor could only settle for the silver medal in the lightflyweight class of the 3rd Asian Olympic boxing qualifying tournament (Green Hill Cup) that came to a close here Wednesday night.

But earning an outright berth in the Athens Games alone was like winning the gold itself.

"Mas maganda sana kung naka-gold tayo. Iniisip ko nakasabit na ‘yung gold medal sa akin after the fourth round, pero hindi ibinigay," said the 25-year old Army man moments after losing his final match in the 48 kg. division to Korean Hong Moo-Won, 34-19, in the first of nine championship bouts held at the jampacked KPT Sports Complex.

"Pero masaya na rin kahit paano dahil nakakuha ng slot sa Olympics," added the pride of Zamboanga City.

It was the only medal won by the four-man Filipino squad, sent here through the collective efforts of Alaxan FR, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Pacific Heights and Accel, at the end of the week-long, 29-nation meet, but enough to give the country one more Olympic berth in addition to the three others (Violito Payla, Romeo Brin and Chris Camat) who already gained slots to the Summer Games this August.

Except for Brin, a veteran of both the Atlanta (1996) and Sydney Games (2000), the rest of the Filipinos will be making their first Olympic stints.

"I commend the team for a fine job. The additional Olympic berth earned by Harry (Tañamor) will surely be a big boost in our quest for that elusive (Olympic) gold medal," said an elated Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez.

For three rounds, Tanamor fought the Korean on even terms and appeared to have gained the upperhand in the final round after punishing Moo-Won with crunching combinations to the head and body.

But the judges saw things the other way.

"Mismong ‘yung Koreano sinabi after the bout na si Harry ang nanalo. Kaya bakit naging ganun ang score," an obviously irritated RP coach George Caliwan said.

The team, also composed of boxers Junard Ladon, Genebert Basadre and Ferdie Gamo as well as coach Pat Gaspi and referee/judge Arturo Vidal arrived in the country early Thursday evening.

For the four Olympic-bound Filipino pugs, the work had just began.

By the end of the month, they‚ll plunge into a three-month training and preparation that will take them to Bulgaria and France before proceeding to Athens, Greece early in August.

"Malaking sakripisyo ito, pero gagawin natin para sa bayan," said Tanamor.