The Philippines missed two chances to send more boxers to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
This is after women's featherweight Nesthy Petecio and men's flyweight Carlo Paalam suffered setbacks in their quarterfinal encounters Monday evening in the 2020 Asia/Oceania boxing qualifying tournament in Amman, Jordan.
Petecio, who is the no. 1 seed and world champion, lost on points to Sena Irie of Japan, 6-4, ending her bid to qualify for her first Olympics stint.
Irie, known for her orthodox stance, took round one, 3-2, after landing right-handed counter punches
The 19-year-old Irie endured Petecio's left crosses, but the Japanese fighter still got the points to take the win.
Amit of India held off Paalam via split decision.
Depite Paalam's loss, he led in the first round, 3-2, after some of his punches connected. But Amit's left-right combination allowed the Indian fighter to bounce back in the second round.
In the third round, Paalam landed a left uppercut, but Amit held his ground from up close.
Because of this Petecio and Paalam won't be joining Eumir Marcial in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Marcial, the reigning World Championships middleweight silver medallist, earlier beat Byamba-Erdene Otbonbaatar of Mongolia, to advance to the semifinals. The win also gave him a berth to the Olympics, where he will join gymnast Carlos Yulo and pole-vaulter EJ Obiena as the three Filipinos, who have so far booked tickets to the Tokyo Games.
Two more Filipino fighters, Irish Magno and Riza Pasuit, are still in contention.