MANILA, Philippines – Irish Magno and Carlo Paalam scored wins to advance to the quarterfinals of their respective events while Ian Clark Bautista suffered another heartbreak in the 2020 Asia and Oceania Olympic boxing qualifiers on Saturday, March 7 (Sunday, March 8, Manila time) in Amman, Jordan. 

Magno stopped Hong Kong’s Winnie Au Yin Yin in 2 rounds as her strong punches forced the referee to halt the bout in the 2nd round of the women’s flyweight (51kg) event. 

But it gets more challenging for the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games silver medalist as she is set to face India’s Mary Kom, who has won 6 gold medals in the world championships and qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games. 

“I will not be comfortable because I have more fights to go, so we have to prepare for the next game,” said Magno on her chances of making the semifinals. 

In the men’s flyweight (52kg), Paalam opened the Philippines’ campaign on Day 5 with a unanimous decision win over Ramish Rahmani of Afghanistan. 

Like Magno, Paalam will face India’s top seed Amit Panghal for a semifinals berth which would secure him a ticket to the quadrennial meet.

Even if Magno and Paalam lose their upcoming bouts, they will still have a chance of qualifying for the quadrennial meet as the top 6 boxers in their categories will be given slots to Tokyo.

After a strong start to his Olympics bid, Bautista once again fell to his Thai conqueror Chatchai Butdee, who disposed the Filipino 4-1. 

Though he was ousted from the continental qualifiers, Bautista has one more chance of gaining a maiden Olympics berth in the world qualifiers in May. – Rappler.com