EUMIR Felix Marcial won the middleweight gold and other Philippine boxers bagged a silver and two bronze medals in the Ulaanbaatar Cup 2017 in Mongolia.
Zamboanga City’s Marcial, the World Junior champion in 2011 as a 15-year-old flyweight, defeated Chinese opponent Jan Xo Ja in the final on Saturday, 5-0.
Rio de Janeiro Olympian Rogen Ladon, from Bago City, lost to hometown boy Ganhuyag Gian-Erdene, 3-2, in the light flyweight class.
The bronze medalists were lightweight Charly Suarez from Davao del Sur and featherweight Riza Pasuit of Bacolod.
Suarez, also a Rio Olympian, bowed to another Mongolian in the semifinals – Ganbaatar Bayarkhuu via split decision, 3-2. Pasuit salvaged a bronze after losing her semifinal match with Russia’s Natalya Chadrina, 5-0.
With the four-medal haul, the Philippines placed fourth overall in the 14-team event behind host Mongolia, North Korea and India.
The other members of Team Philippines were flyweight Dannel Maamo of Cagayan de Oro, bantamweight Jorge Edusma of Cebu and female flyweight Judelyn Casin, also of CdO.
The coaches were Nolito Velasco, Gerson Nietes and Violito Payla.
The trip to Mongolia, backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, is also part of the boxers' preparations for the SEA Games in August in Kuala Lumpur.
“We are confident that the boys are going to peak at the right time both for the World Championships and the SEA Games. August is still about two months away and we still have some planned exposures for our boxers,” said Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines president Ricky Vargas.
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