Courtesy: POC MEDIA POOL
Marcus Manalo, president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), expressed strong disappointment over the result of the men’s 55kg gold medal showdown between top Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam and Japan’s Rui Yamaguchi on Friday at the Nishio Gymnasium in Japan.
Paalam lost to Yamaguchi via a controversial split decision, forcing the Philippines to settle for the silver medal.
In an interview with POC Media, Manalo labeled the judges’ verdict a “bad decision” and criticized the referee’s officiating.
Beyond the frustrating verdict itself, the ABAP chief questioned the technical officials’ choice to assign the exact same Uzbek referee, Maruf Urdushev, who had already handled Paalam’s semifinal bout. He noted that the Uzbek referee repeatedly disrupted Paalam’s momentum throughout the bout.
“I think it was a bad decision. And then at the same time, frustrating na ‘yung same referee — the same referee na nag-referee sa kanya sa semifinals, obviously biased against him during the semifinals — ‘yun na naman ang in-appoint sa atin in the finals. Ang dami-daming referees na puwede pa diyan,” said Manalo.
Manalo remained firm in his belief that the gold medal rightfully belonged to the Philippines.
“The gold should have been ours. And Carlo was really disappointed, kasi ginawa niya talaga yung best to bring home the gold, and to end the 16-year gold medal drought but it wasn’t enough. Pero, that’s boxing for you. That’s one of the sports na it’s either the most corrupt or maybe have the most incompetent referees and judges, unfortunately,” Manalo said.
Manalo confirmed that the federation will file a formal inquiry to challenge the questionable officiating and referee assignments.
“So we’re going to write, at least to inquire about the process. Why are we having the same referee in the semifinals, na talagang kung mayroong views, biased against our boxer during the semifinals?”
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