Middleweight fighter Eumir Marcial will be the only Filipino boxer who will go to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. For now.
This is after women’s lightweight bet Riza Pasuit and flyweight aspirant Irish Magno fell out of contention in their quarterfinal matches late Monday evening in the 2020 Asia/Oceania boxing qualifying tournament in Amman, Jordan.
Shih-Yi Wu of Chinese Taipei, who is third-seeded in her division, ousted Pasuit via unanimous decision.
Wu took the initiative in the first round, landing with jabs, which Pasuit managed to parry with a couple of rugged right hands.
But, Wu continued to get left jabs through in the second round, allowing her to move away on points. She became the fourth Taiwanese to make it to the Olympics.
Six-time flyweight world champion Mary Kom of India made it to the Olympics for the second time.
The London Olympics 2012 bronze medallist also won by unanimous division over Magno.
Kom moved ahead, 3-2, in the first round and second round, and she was ahead on points over Magno in the third round.
Because of this, the Philippines has now missed four chances to send to more boxers to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Earlier, women’s featherweight Nesthy Petecio and men’s flyweight Carlo Paalam suffered setbacks in their quarterfinal encounters.
Amit of India held off Paalam via split decision.
Marcial, the reigning World Championships middleweight silver medallist, is so far the only Filipino boxing qualifier to the Tokyo Olympics.
He got the slot after he beat Byamba-Erdene Otbonbaatar of Mongolia.
Marcial advanced to the semifinals, and at the same time, he has joined gymnast Carlos Yulo and pole-vaulter EJ Obiena as the three Filipinos who have booked a ticket to the Tokyo Games.