By Nick Giongco
JAKARTA – Philippine boxing officials will make a lot of noise when the AIBA World Congress takes place in Moscow in November.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas, also the Philippine Olympic Committee president, and secretary general Ed Picson, will raise a howl over the officiating that marred the Asian Games.
The Philippines fielded eight boxers – six male and two female – and five were immediately eliminated.
Boxing officials said a couple of fights were questionable while the semis matches of light-fly Carlo Paalam and middle Eumir Felix Marcial had the same ending.
“A few other countries are joining us,” said Picson, noting that the gold medal match starring fly Rogen Ladon against Yasurbek Latipov of Uzbekistan topped it all after the fight was stopped in the second round due to a cut on the Filipino.
Picson said it appeared that Ladon would have still lost the fight even if it had gone the distance despite dominating the first round.
The judges favored Latipov even if Ladon landed with the more telling blows.
What happened here could affect the inclusion of boxing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics since the International Olympic Committee is seriously considering to ban the sport owing to bum officiating the last few years, said Picson.
Meanwhile, there are still a few tournaments in the remainder of the year that the ABAP will take part in.
“We still have the world women’s championships, the Tammer Cup in Finland a few others,” said Picson.
When curtains fell over the weekend, Ladon wound up with the silver and bronzes were provided by Marcial and Paalam.
