By Nick Giongco
Middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial’s rousing performance failed to rub off on the four other Filipino fighters in the Asia-Oceania Olympic Boxing Qualifying Tournament in Amman, Jordan.
Early Tuesday (late Monday night in Jordan), flyweight Irish Magno and lightweight Riza Pasuit wilted in the quarterfinals, dropping similar unanimous decisions to Mary Kom of India and Shih-Yi Wuh of Chinese-Taipei, respectively.
Hours earlier, fly Carlo Paalam and women’s feather top seed Nesthy Petecio were also handed the pink slip by Amit Panghal of India and Sena Irie of Japan to the tune of 4-1.
Still, Paalam and Magno could still end up taking the bus to the Olympics if they win their scheduled boxoffs.
Paalam faces a Kazakh puncher while Magno meets a Tajik in the other boxoff since the top six in their respective divisions will advance to the Olympics.
“If they win in the boxoffs, they’ll be in the Olympics,” said Abap secretary-general Ed Picson.
Earlier in the tournament, feather Ian Clark Bautista and welter James Palicte were eliminated, leaving Marcial as the only one who made the Tokyo grade.
