7 PINOY PUGS ADVANCE IN ULAANBAATAR CUP
SEVEN Filipino boxers barged into the quarterfinals of the 2017 Ulaanbaatar Cup Boxing Tournament being held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Cebu City pride Jeorge Rey Edusma led the charge of the squad after stunning Wang Yang Yang of China via a 5-0 unanimous decision in the first round of the men’s bantamweight division.
Edusma scored 30-25, 30-25, 30-27, 3027 and 30-25 from five judges to arrange a quarterfinals meeting with Ho Nam Jo of North Korea, who also posted a 5-0 unanimous decision of Munkhsaikhan Oyunbileg of host Mongolia.
Daniel Maamo, Judelyn Casin and Riza Pasuit also marched into the next round following their unanimous decision victories in their respective categories in the tournament sanctioned by the Asian Boxing Confederation.
Maamo blasted Batna San of Mongolia in the men’s flyweight, Casin clobbered Tandin Lhamo of Bhutan in the women’s flyweight, and Pasuit overpowered Viska Defri Bambuta of Indonesia in the women’s lightweight.
In the quarterfinals, Maamo faces Gandulam Mungun-Erdene of Mongolia, Casin battles Altantsetseg Lutsaikhan of Mongolia and Pasuit takes on Shinetsetseg Urantsegtseg of Mongolia. All their Mongolian foes earned first-round by es. Reigning Southeast Asian Games champion Eumir Felix Marcial (men’s middleweight), Incheon Asian Games silver medalist Charly Suarez (men’s light welterweight) and Rio Olympics veteran Rogen Ladon (men’s light flyweight) also secured opening-round byes in their weight classes.
Marcial will be tackling Hu Richa Bilige of China while Ladon goes up against Mon- golian Munkh-Erdene Damdindorj, who defeated Kim Jang Sung of North Korea.
Suarez awaits the winner between Norovbal Otgontumur of Mongolia and Xiao Qiuguang of China.
Recently, the national boxing team copped one gold, one silver and one bronze in the 2017 President’s Cup - Elite International Boxing Championship held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Cagayan de Oro City’s Carlo Paalam won the Philippines’ lone gold in the men’s 49 kilogram light flyweight class.