Saludars cop Tammer golds

MANILA, Philippines - Brothers Victorio and Rey Saludar overwhelmed their respective opponents to claim the gold medals while Charly Suarez and Delfin Boholts settled for silver at the close of the Tammer Cup boxing championship in Tampere, Finland Sunday.

Victorio Saludar, 19, stamped his class against England’s Charlie Edwards, scoring a 7-3 victory and bagging the “Best Fighter” of the tournament award at the Pyynikkin Palloiluhalli Sports Hall.

The 21-year-old Rey Saludar, on the other hand, whipped Portugal’s Pedro Matos, 6-0, to capture the flyweight gold.

The Saludars thus matched the Philippines’ two-gold medal haul in the 2006 edition of the annual event through Joan Tipon and Violito Payla, who both went on to win the Asian Games gold medals in Doha.

Suarez, however, bumped into Finnish superstar Matti Koota and absorbed a stinging 0-6 setback in their 56-kg encounter.

Suarez appeared anxious from the onset and missed a lot of shots in going after the slippery Finnish, who displayed deft counter-punching and moves that frustrated the Filipino no end.

Boholts narrowly missed delivering the third gold for Team RP, bowing to Ireland’s Ross Hickey, 1-2, in the 64-kg finals.

The two-gold, two-silver performance of the Philippines was nonetheless the best among all participants with no team able to match the Filipinos’ feat of getting all their four boxers into the finals.

Host Finland and France tied for second with three finalists each.

“I thought the match was closer and Koota was given a standing 8-count in the last round so I seriously doubt that Charly did not deserve a single point, “ said ABAP executive director Ed Picson.

“But the hometown boy fought smartly and I think he deserved the win. The crowd also did its job,” Picson said.

Boholst broke down on hearing the close score, prompting Picson to talk to him and Suarez, urging both fighters to “learn something from the losses.”

Team RP’s campaign in Finland was the last of the team’s “Road to Asian Games” program.

The RP fighters hope to match if not surpass the 2006 squad’s two-gold medal win in boxing four years ago in next month’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.