It may be the end of the road for Irish Magno in the Tokyo Games, but her hunt for an Olympic gold medal lives on.

Magno said an Olympic gold remains on her dream checklist even after she got the boot following a unanimous decision loss to Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand in their women’s flyweight round of 16 bout on Thursday, July 29.

The 30-year-old became the first Filipino boxer to get eliminated in Tokyo as Nesthy Petecio – who is guaranteed of at least a bronze – Eumir Marcial, and Carlo Paalam stay in contention.

“Of course, I’m saddened by the results. The Olympics is not just any other tournament – all athletes train hard and give it their all because they want to win a medal,” said Magno in Filipino in a dispatch from Tokyo.

“For me, I will keep on fighting. As long as we have not won a gold, we will not give up. The fight continues.”

Jitpong is no stranger to Magno.

The Filipina beat the Thai in the women’s flyweight semifinals in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games en route to a silver-medal finish.

Magno and Jitpong also trained together in Thailand as the national team geared up for the Tokyo Olympics.

The familiarity between the two, though, proved to be the determining factor in their Olympic tussle, with Jitpong methodically picking Magno apart, appearing to read every move the Filipina made.

Jitpong won all three rounds and earned the nod of all five judges, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28.

“It has been an incredible journey for Irish,” Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines secretary-general Ed Picson said of Magno, who won her opening bout over Kenya’s Christine Ongare in the round of 32 last Sunday.

“She and Jitpong had some lively spars in Thailand the last three months. Reports were that it was quite even.”

“Obviously today, the Thai girl got the better of Irish.” – Rappler.com