CARLO Paalam and Irish Magno remain in the running for a berth in the Tokyo Olympics as they need to hurdle their respective box-offs in their weight categories to advance in the Asia-Oceania Boxing Qualification Tournament,
Paalam will be up against Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan in the flyweight category, while Magno takes on Sumaiva Oosimova of Tajkistan in the women’s flyweight.
Both box-offs are scheduled on Friday in Amman, Jordan.
Paalam is expected to have his hands full as Bibossinov was a bronze-medal winner in last year’s AIBA Men’s World Championship in Russia, where our very own Eumir Felix Marcial won a silver.
The two Filipino fighters lost their quarterfinals matches that relegated them in a box-off. Unlike in other categories, where only the top four finishers are assured of earning an Olympic berth, six fighters will advance in the two flyweight divisions.
Paalam lost to top seed Amit Panghal of India, 4-1, while Magno also fell to another Indian, second seed Mary Kom, 5-0.
Meanwhile, Marcial guns for a finals berth in the middleweight division late Tuesday night as he takes on Indian Ashish Kumar in their semifinals bout at the Prince Hamzah Sports Hall.
Marcial scored a resounding referee-stopped contest bout against Mongolian Otgonbaataryn Byamba-Erdene in the quarterfinals to formally book a seat in the Tokyo Olympics.
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