BY NICK GIONGCO
AMMAN, Jordan – World championships silver medalist Eumir Felix Marcial overwhelmed Australian rival Kirra Ruston en route to a 5-0 decision win in their middleweight bout Thursday in the Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Prince Hamed Hall.
“Ito ang matagal nang pangarap namin ng tatay ko, ang makapunta sa Olympics. Hindi ko na pakakawalan ito,“ said the muscular AirForce man from Zamboanga who is seeded first here.
As the No. 1 seed in the middleweight division, he had a bye in the first round and with this win, enters the quarterfinals on Sunday.
Marcial, a former world junior champion, next faces Byamba Erdene-Otgonbaatar of Mongolia, a more experienced boxer who turned professional last year.
But Marcial’s camp insists the Filipino puncher won’t be intimidated.
”Eumir will be ready for him”, said Philippine team foreignconsultant Don Abnett. “This is the best condition I’ve seen Marcial in. The five-week training camp in Thailand prior to this tournament boosted not only his physical state but his mental state as well”.
But it wasn’t all rosy for the Filipinos during the third day of hostilities in the boxfest that was originally set for Wuhan, China, last month.
Lightweight James Palicte, however, broke the string of four victories by the Philippine boxing team, bowing to a superior Uzbek boxer, Elnur Abduraimov, a World Championships bronze medalist, 5-0.
Friday the team takes a break with Irish Magno, Carlo Paalam and Ian Clark Bautista taking on their respective opponents Saturday.
There are 221 boxers from 35 countries hoping to get a slotin the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to start July 24 in Tokyo.
The Asia-Oceania is one of four continental qualifiers taking place.
The Arica slugfest had just ended in Senegal while the Americas is happening in Buenos Aires and the European version being hosted by London.
Those who won’t make the grade in the continentals will have their last chance when the World Qualification Tournament is hosted by Paris from May 13-24.
