Paalam gets shot at PHL’S 2nd gold in Tokyo
TOKYO—CARLO Paalam unleashed a dominant form to outclass Japan’s Ryomei Tanaka on Thursday and send the entire nation glued toward a possible second gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday.
Paalam mauled Tanaka for an emphatic 5-0 unanimous decision victory at the Kokugikan Arena where he returns to fight for the gold medal at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Great Britain’s Galal Yafai.
Yafai edged Paalam’s 2020 Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament tormentor, Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov, 3-2, to set up the gold medal showdown with the 23-year-old pride out of Cagayan de Oro City.
Paalam’s victory made up for Eumir Felix Marcial’s 2-3 loss to Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak in a men’s middleweight semifinal also on Thursday. Marcial settled for a bronze medal.
Golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Yuka Saso, however, couldn’t keep up with the searing pace and bowed out of contention in women’s golf.