Beijing-bound Harry settles for silver

CHICAGO, Illinois – Light flyweight Harry Tañamor bowed to Zou Shiming of China, 3-16, and settled for the silver medal in the World Boxing Championships at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion here Saturday.

Tañamor, a member of the RP-PLDT Smart boxing team, hurt his left hand while parrying Shiming’s 1-2 combinations early in the first round and spent the rest of the four-round bout playing catch-up.

Meanwhile, President Arroyo lauded Tañamor’s silver medal finish and his successful bid for a berth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, the President said “Tañamor represented the Philippines with true grit and excellence.”

“The President leads the nation in looking forward to cheering him on as he prepares for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and vies for that elusive gold medal in our people’s behalf,” Bunye said.

 The Zamboanga native matched the country’s best ever finish in the world championship, duplicating the feat of Olympic bronze medalist Roel Velasco in 1997 in Budapest. He also improved on his bronze medal showings in the 2001 an 2003 editions of the Worlds.

“My hand hurt whenever I threw punches. I also failed to defend solidly because of this. But I’m not using this as an excuse‚” Tañamor said.

The veteran fighter swarmed all over his taller, talented Chinese rival but Shiming, China’s first Olympic boxing medalist, kept the initiative with his superb footwork and movement.

“He ran, ran and ran. I tried to corner him, but he proved to be an elusive target,” said Tañamor, the first Filipino boxer to win a slot in the Beijing Olympics after making it to the quarterfinal round Thursday.

Wary of Tañamor’s solid body punches, Shiming used his reach advantage, throwing occasional combinations whenever the Filipino fighter came charging in. Disappointed over the lack of action, the overflowing crowd booed both fighters, forcing the referee to urge them to fight.

Shiming went ahead, 6-1, at the end of the first round and made it 7-1 despite punching with an open glove early in the second.

“I’m amazed but not surprised. The scoring was simply unbelievable,” said Dennis Rappaport, an American boxing promoter who is also the manager of reigning WBC heavyweight titlist Oleg Maskaev of Russia.

Dickie Wood, an American trainer in the audience, also expressed his disgust over the cards. “The Filipino boxer should have been credited with points. I think the judges were very biased.”

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manny Lopez said the silver-medal finish is a worthy finish for the RP PLDT-Smart boxing team.            

“Tañamor’s silver glittered like gold. This silver will inspire us going to the Olympics,” said Lopez, adding that the quality of the tournament improved dramatically over the years. “We lost our first three bouts here but we bounced back. Violito (Payla) and Genebert (Basadre) came to within victories of gaining slots in the Olympics. We learned our lessons here.”

Arturo Vidal, head of the delegation, said the silver-medal finish is a big relief for the Philippine team. “We can compete with the best,” said Vidal.

Lopez also said the Philippines is looking forward to competing in the next Asian Olympic qualifying slated January in Bangkok, Thailand.

“We’re seeking more berths. ABAP hopes to send six boxers to Beijing,” said Lopez. Kazakshtan will host the third and final Olympic qualifying for Asian countries.

Lopez stressed that the coaching staff headed by Pat Gaspi will assess the performance of the RP fighters.

“We have to study very well whom we will send to Bangkok. We’ve got to look into the national training pool and then see what’s the best for ABAP.”