Using the experience of losing to an Olympian as motivation, Irish Magno beat her Tajikistan foe in the 2020 Asia/Oceania boxing qualifying tournament in Amman, Jordan to become the fourth Filipino qualifier to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
After bowing out of contention in the Round of 16, the 28-year-old Magno turned back Tajikistan’s Sumaiya Qosimova via unanimous decision, 4-1, in the women’s flyweight box-off yesterday.
With her win, there will now be four Filipinos headed to the Tokyo Olympics.
This includes pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxer Eumir Marcial.
According to the accounts on the tournament’s livestream, Magno proved to be a better puncher in the early rounds with her left-right combinations.
Magno hurt Qosimova with a sharp left jab and this gave her a 5-0 edge in Round 1.
After Magno out-punched Qosimova, she took Round 2 with a 10-8 score.
Magno earlier bowed to six-time flyweight world champion Mary Kom of India, but she made it to the Olympics on her second try.
Kom, the London Olympics 2012 bronze medallist, almost knocked Magno out of contention, when she also won by unanimous division over the Filipino a few days back.
Magno said she followed the instructions of coach Roel Velasco when they studied the videotape on how she lost to Kom, who could be her fiercest rival for the gold in Tokyo.
“I listened to coach Roel because he saw the fight of my opponent. We studied it well, and this is the result,” said Magno in a livestreamed interview.
Meanwhile, Philippine bet Carlo Paalam bowed out of contention in the men’s flyweight boxoffs.
Paalam succumbed to Kazakhstan’s fourth-seeded by Saken Bibossinov, 1-4, by unanimous decision.
Bibossinov, a southpaw, was good with his left crosses as the Kazakh took Round 1, 4-1.
After he got past Paalam’s defense, the Kazakh earned more points, 3-2, in Round 2.
Earlier, the 24-year-old Marcial made it to the championship round after he hurdled Ashish Kumar of India via a split decision victory in their middleweight division semifinals.
The 5’8” Marcial led on points in the first round, first after he countered Kumar’s long lefts with a right hook to the chin, with a flurry of left crosses as well.
It was a rugged contest in the second round, with a chopping right from Kumar finding its mark, but Marcial still took the second round.
Marcial got a standing eight-count following a left jab from Kumar, but Filipino recovered by sending Kumar aback with his counters in the third round.
This put Marcial up against Kazakh Abilkhan Amankul in the finals.