Bemedalled pugs rue hometown verdicts

NAY PYI TAW – The boxing association finished its campaign with a 100 percent performance, with a medal by each of the 10-member squad – six men and four women â€“ at the close of the boxing competitions in the 27th Southeast Asian Games here Saturday.

The team won three gold medals, four silver and three bronze medals by figuring in the medal rounds, from the quarterfinal to the final rounds.

The tally also matched the perfect score of the wushu team, which had three gold medals.

Still, team manager Ed Picson said they deserved more than that – at least five golds – but they lost to hometown bets in the finals and were denied of at least two in the earlier rounds where Rey Saludar and Irish Magno lost their semifinal matches.

“I’m not happy with three (golds). We deserved five, but we lost two to hometown decisions,” said Picson, referring to losses to hometown heroes by Nesthey Petecio and Wilfredo Lopez.

Petecio lost to Myanmar fighter Nwe Ni Oo in the featherweight (54-57 kg) class while Lopez lost his bout to a Myanmar rival after a ring physician from Taiwan declared him unfit to fight because of injury to the head.

“I called up the physician who is my friend and asked him how he could have been so unfair to disqualify my boxer who suffered only from a scratch,” said Picson.

“We always abide by the decisions, but it doesn’t mean we agree,” he added.

Thailand and Vietnam shared top honors in the women’s division with two golds each while the Philippines and Myanmar had one apiece.

In the men’s division Thailand had five gold medals, losing one, while the Philippines had three and Myanmar one.

In all Thailand maintained anew its supremacy with seven out of 10 gold medals, just like what Thailand’s Cuban coach Omar Fuentes said before the final matches.

The Philippines had three, one short of the 2011 team’s four gold haul.

The gold medal winners were Josie Gabuco (light flyweight), Mark Anthony Barriga (light flyweight) and Mario Fernandez (bantamweight).

The silver medalists were Petecio, Junel Cantancio (lightweight), Dennis Galvan (light welterweight) and Wilfredo Lopez (middleweight).

The bronze medalists were Maricris Igam (flyweight), Magno (bantamweight) and Saludar (flyweight).

There were 14 events – eight for men and six for women – in the 2013 SEA Games, but each country is allowed only 10 entries – six men and four women.

Under new amateur boxing rules, women boxers fight over four rounds at two minutes per round while the men fight three rounds. Males play without helmets while women wear protective head gear. There are five judges but three are picked at random to choose the three scores which will determine the winner. A 10-point must scoring system applies.