Rising star Carlo Paalam, the 23-year-old revelation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, continue to shine with a masterful victory over Ryomei Tanaka of host Japan winning by 5-0 unanimous decision at the Kokuginan Arena in Tokyo Thursday afternoon assuring the Philippines of at least another silver medal.
Paalam displayed superb boxing skill by continuously beating Tanaka to the punch the entire night by good footwork, coming in and out in an instant and lightning handspeed. On the contrary Tanaka's punches hit but air most of the time.
All the judges, Pavlo Vasylynchuk of Ukraine, Nelka Shiromala Thampu of Sri Lanka, Antonio Stephen Aciga Fula of Uganda, Maksim Sulejmani of Australia and Wilfredo Vazquez Calero of Cuba, were unanimous in giving the first and second round to Paalam. Only Aciga of Uganda gave a round to Tanaka in the third round. Final score: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 for Tanaka.
Carlo Paalam (R) drops to the canvas after he was announced the victor against Ryomei Tanaka in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics semifinal bout Thursday.
Paalam defeated Brendan Irvine of Ireland, Mohamed Flissi of Algeria and world number one Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the previous rounds.
Paalam will now face Galal Yafai of Great Britain for the gold medal on Saturday, Aug. 7. Yafai defeated Saken Bibossinov in their own semifinal bout, 3-2.
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