Payla, Tipon start Olympic boxing bid

BANGKOK – Byes in the first round gave Violito Payla and Joan Tipon some kind of a push in the first Asian Boxing Olympic Qualifying tournament but the Asian Games gold medalists need to press on to get their bids going at the Dhurakij Punjit University here Friday.

Payla, 28, tests Anvar Yunusov’s mettle in the first bout on the second day of action Saturday with the Tajikistan bet also getting a free ride to the second round of the 51-kg division of the top-level tournament staking Olympic berths for the gold and silver medal winners.

If he hurdles Yunusov, Payla will be ramming into a formidable rival in either Mirat Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan or Zorigtbaatar Luvsantseren, two solid, experienced fighters also aiming to get a crack at the Beijing Games.

“This is a tough fight for our boys with majority veterans of so many wars, especially in (Genebert) Basadre at (Orlando) Tacuyan’s brackets. But they are all mentally and physically prepared for this tournament,” said boxing chief Manny Lopez.

The coaching staff used the bonus day-off to prepare for today’s bouts with head coach Pat Gaspi overseeing the training of the five-man RP-PLDT Smart boxing team at the Thai-Japan gym and Ronald Chavez scouting the opposition here.

That includes Ebraheem Algharageer of Jordan, whose speed and power carried him past Tajikistan Malaev Emomali, 30-22, to arrange a clash with Tipon in the lower draw of the 54-kg division.

“He looked fast and strong but Joan can handle him,” said Chavez, a former Olympian.

“The boys are in tip-top condition. They are all focused on the task at hand and the team’s morale is high,” Chavez said.

But to get into the finals, Tipon, 25,  will need to beat perhaps the most formidable fighter in his division – Worapoj Petchkoom, the flashy Thai ace who the Bacolod bet beat for the gold in the 2006 Doha Asiad.

But Petchkoom, a silver medalist in the Athens Olympics, got back at an off-form Tipon in last year’s World Championships in Chicago. If they make it past their rivals, Tipon and Petchkoom are set to meet in an explosive third round face off for the Olympic slot.

Also set to see action today is the 19-year-old Tacuyan, gold medalist in the 2006 Asian 18-under Championship, but who had the toughest draw – against 2003 world champion Jafarov Galib of Kazakhstan in the featherweight category of this 10-day event which drew 161 participants from 27 countries.

Basadre and Fil-Am Adam Fiel get to see action Sunday with the former facing Doha Asian Games gold medalist Hu Qing of China in the lightweight class and the latter clashing with Mongolian Byamba Tubshinbat in the light-welterweight class.

“We are looking for at least two qualifiers in this tournament but we will welcome additional Olympic seats anytime. This is really a tough qualifier since only 19 slots are staked in 10 divisions,” said Lopez.

Lopez said the target of the team, sponsored by PLDT and Smart, is to snare two more in Almaty, Kazakhstan in April, the last of two Asian qualifiers, to send a team of five to Beijing. The Philippines qualified four fighters in Sydney in 2000 and four in Athens four years ago.

Lightfly Harry Tañamor emerged from suspension to become the first Olympic qualifier, clinching a berth with a silver medal finish in Chicago.