Coach ended it, says Lopez

BACOLOD CITY — Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez said yesterday it was coach Nolito (Boy) Velasco’s decision to stop the last bout of the 14 men’s and women’s finals in the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games at the University of St. La Salle gym the other night.

"Boy looked at me and I gave him a nod," said Lopez. "The crowd was getting more and more unruly. It was a good decision to avert a possible riot. Although the tournament ended on a sour note, there is reason to be proud. We regained the overall boxing championship. That was our goal and we did it."

The last fight was between Reynaldo Galido of Bago City and Athens Olympics bronze medalist Suriya Prasathinphimai of Thailand. The opening round ended with Suriya on top, 11-4, triggering a howl of protest from the partisan fans. Debris was thrown into the ring as coins, plastic water bottles and garbage rained from the gallery, prompting Rep. Monico Puentevella to grab a microphone and appeal for sobriety.

With tension filling the air, Velasco threw in the towel for Galido and Suriya walked away with the gold medal via retirement.

Lopez conceded that the Thais were superior in the higher weight divisions where they fielded world-class fighters. Aside from Suriya, the other Thai men’s gold medalists were welterweight Non Boonjumnong, lightwelterweight Pechai Sayota, featherweight Worapoj Pethkhum and flyweight Somjit Jongjohor.

International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) technical delegate Shakeel Durrani of Pakistan said he would rate the conduct of the competitions a seven on a scale of one to 10.

"In my opinion, all the gold medalists deserved to win but there seemed to be questionable margins of victory in some of the finals matches," said Durrani who is AIBA president Anwar Chowdry’s son-in-law. "We will evaluate the performance of the 21 judges and referees and make recommendations at the AIBA Congress in the Dominican Republic next June."

"If there is any questionable scoring, it’s not because of bad intentions," said Durrani. "Sometimes, it’s difficult to judge objectively because we’re only human."

But it’s our job in the AIBA to make sure scoring is always fair and square."

Durrani said it was unfortunate that fans reacted negatively to the scoring in the last fight.

"The Filipino should not have retired," he continued. "There were three more rounds and he could’ve come back. The crowd reaction was unfortunate but understandable. The fans were confused because of the delay in marking points in the electronic scoreboard and they probably thought some manipulation was going on. This problem arises because of the lack of understanding among fans of the nuances of amateur boxing and how points are scored. Also, we must improve the efficiency of the open scoring system which was adopted only after the Athens Olympics."

Thai team coach Jorge Hernandez, a Cuban, said on the whole, the tournament went smoothly. He had predicted a harvest of at least six gold medals for the Thai men’s team and fell one shy of his target. Lightflyweight Usanakorn Thawi Niwaywang delivered a gold for Thailand in the women’s division to raise the overall count to six golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

Meanwhile, Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, in a letter to International Boxing Federation (AIBA) presidewnt Anwar Chowdry, said the Filipinos were robbed of gold medals in their own backyard, adding this was ironic because the country has been unfairly accused of cheating in the games a few days ago.

"We have been prompt and emphatic in our denials and the boxing outcome yesterday has, in fact, pointed out that we are the ones that are being subjected to unfair scoring and not the other way around," said Puentevella, who is also the director of the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee.

He added that what they had seen was an ugly footnote to what can be considered as another successful SEA Games.

"I believe that a review of the bouts is in order and the nature of the situation demands that appropriate and immediate action is expected," the solon added. - With report from Antonieta Lopez