PHNOM, PENH – After missing the 2022 Vietnam edition, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam returns to the Southeast Asian Games as he plunges into action at the start of the boxing competitions on Saturday at the Chroy Changvar Convention Centre Hall G here.
Fighting in the bantamweight division for only the third time, the 24-year-old Cagayan de Oro native and 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist battles hometown bet Sao Rangsey in the men’s 54 kg class at 5 p.m. (Philippine time).
Paalam will try to duplicate his gold-medal feat in the 2019 Philippine edition, where he fought in a different weight class (flyweight). After bagging the silver medal in the Olympics in 2021 in the same flyweight category, Paalam missed last year’s Hanoi games due to a shoulder injury.
He has moved up in the bantamweight division after Vietnam SEAG gold medalist Rogen Ladon kept his spot in the men’s flyweight category.
Paalam began his bantamweight journey in the last Asian Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships, where he won the gold medal.
Meanwhile, Paul Julyfer Bascon makes his SEAG debut as he faces Aung Soe Moe of Myanmar in the preliminary round of the men’s light welterweight class at 5:15 p.m.
Tokyo Olympian Irish Magno rounds out Saturday’s Filipino schedule when she takes on Myanmar’s Nan Mwe Hom in the quarterfinal round of women’s bantamweight class at 7:15 p.m.
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) national director Don Abnett said they are also hoping that flyweight Ian Clark Bautista and returning Filipino-British light heavyweight John Marvin can deliver the goods for Team Philippines, supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
“Both teams – men and women – have prepared well prior to our arrival here in Phnom, Penh. I’m expecting good performances from them. They are in good shape and I expect some surprises,” Abnett said. “But we still have to consider the luck, the draw and the performance.”
Bautista, winner of the 2022 and 2015 SEA Games gold medal, said he will do his best to get his third mint in the biennial meet.
“For our country, we’ll try and do the best we can to win the gold,” he said.
Other members of the men’s boxing team are Mark Lester Durens (light flyweight), James Palicte (welterweight), Norlan Petecio (lightweight) and Marcus Tongco (heavyweight), while Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Nesthy Petecio (featherweight) and Riza Pasuit (lightweight) complete the women’s side.
The national boxing team is eyeing to surpass the three golds, one silver and five bronze medals it won in the Vietnam edition.