The Philippine amateur boxing team failed to match the five gold haul and the dominant performance they showed two years earlier in Singapore. But considering the conditions that they had to face before and during the event, we can be thankful for the two golds.
Host Malaysia scrapped women?s boxing, thus the defending champion in the light flyweight class Josie Gabuco was not able to compete. The hosts also limited the number of weight divisions in the men?s category.
The Philippines sent six boxers with Charlie Suarez and Eumir Marcial moving up in weight. Our country also had to send entries to the ongoing world amateur championships in Germany.
Suarez lost but Marcial, winner in the light welterweight class in 2015, got another gold as a middleweight, beating Thai Pathomsak Kuttiya on points.
Mario Fernandez lost in the bantamweight finals on points to another Thailander, Chatchai Butdee.
The most impressive performance for the Philippines was courtesy of Filipino-British light heavyweight John Marvin. He needed less than half of a minute to dispose of Malaysian Adli Hapidz Bin Mohd Fauzi in their finals match.
In a country where we have a very hard time finding quality boxers above the lightweight division, Marvin?s addition to our national squad in very welcome. We hope to see him against tougher competition in the Asian and international level.
There was the usual questionable officiating that we have come to expect from AIBA tournaments. Social media has been filled with profanities condemning the scoring and refereeing; a perennial problem that seems to have no solution in sight.
Photo: The referee grabs John Marvin of the Philippines from inflicting more punishment to Adli Hafidz of Malaysia in this bit of action during their Mens light heavyweight finals in Kuala Lumpur Thursday. Marvin wins gold for the Philippines.
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