CARLO Paalam wrested a gold medal in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, beating Kornelis Kwangu Langu of Indonesia via unanimous decision in the light flyweight division at the PICC Forum.
The Cagayan De Oro native saw action in his first-ever SEA Games and he won it in style. Four judges scored the bout, 30-27, while one judge had it, 29-28.
Kornelis was looking to regain the title he won in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games when he beat Filipino Rogen Ladon for the gold, but Paalm proved too much.
“May lakas eh at experienced,” said Paalam. “Lumaban na rin sa Olympics ‘yun at ‘yun ‘yung unang nakalaban ni Ladon. Sobrang saya ko, binawian ko si Kuya Ladon. Nagpapasalamat din ako sa kanya kasi natuto kaming dalawa.”
Paalam used his quickness in his combination punches early in order to get points to take command of the fight.
“Utak na ginamit ko. Hindi na ‘yung lakas, bilis na lang at talino sa lubid sa last round,” said Paalam.
Irish Magno was not as fortunate as she lost to Nguyen Thi Tam of Vietnam via majority decision for the country’s first loss in the final for boxing. Prior to the day, 10 boxers were vying for a gold medal.
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