MANILA, Philippines – Eumir Felix Marcial bowed out of the 2018 Asian Games with a split decision loss against Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov, 3-2, at the middleweight semifinals in Jakarta, Indonesia on Friday, August 31.
Three judges handed a 28-27 score to Madrimov while two others had it 28-27 for Marcial.
Marcial revealed that he had been fighting with a damaged hand.
“My knuckle is very swollen,” Marcial told AFP pointing to his right hand. “I damaged it sparring before the Asian Games so I was training with only one hand.
“I’m very happy to get a medal with this swollen hand, but many Filipinos expected I would get to the final. So this hurts.”
A two-time SEA Games gold medalist, Marcial joined compatriot Carlo Paalam as the Philippines’ bronze medal finishers for the day, with Paalam losing earlier in a crushing 2-3 split decision bout against India’s Amit Panghal.
But the country’s delegation is not yet wholly down for the count as flyweight hotshot Rogen Ladon secured a shot at a gold tomorrow at 3:15 pm.
Marcial – a 22-year-old silver medalist in the 2015 Thailand International Boxing Tournament and the Asian Boxing Championship – faced a tough foe in Madrimov, a 2017 Asian Boxing Champion title holder.
The Pinoy slugger plowed through Macau’s Ng Kuon Kun and South Korea’s Kim Jinjea in the earlier rounds before running to a brick wall in Madrimov. He was touted by boxing analysts as the country’s best bet in winning an Asiad boxing gold. – with a report from Agence France-Presse
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