PH assured of another bronze in Asian Games

FILE: WINNER. Eumir Felix Marcial celebrates his quarterfinal victory over South Korea’s Kim Jin-jea in the 18th Asian Games boxing competition at the Jakarta International Exhibition Center in Kemayoran on Wednesday night. (Photo by PSC Media Pool via PNA)

JAKARTA — Eumir Felix Marcial assured the Philippines of another bronze medal after beating his South Korean foe in the 18th Asian Games boxing competition at the Jakarta International Exhibition Center in Kemayoran late Wednesday night.

The 5-foot-11 Marcial, a gold medalist in the 2017 SEA Games, demolished Kim Jin-jea, 5-0, to advance to the semifinal round of the men’s middleweight (75kg) class.

Kim is a silver medalist in the 2018 Thailand International Boxing Championships.

Marcial, who won the welterweight (69kg) silver medal in the Asian Championships and Thailand International Boxing Championships in 2015, will be up against Uzbekistan’s Israil Madrimov, who prevailed over Iran’s Seyedshahin, 5-0, in the quarterfinal.

Madrimov, 2014 Asian Games welterweight silver medalist, won the middleweight gold medal in the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and the Thailand International Boxing Championships in Bangkok last year.

Also booking semifinal slots were Kazakhstan’s Abikhan Amankul and India’s Krishan Vikas. Amankul defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chiawei Kan, 5-0, while Vikas won over China’s Tuoheta Erbieke Tanglatihan, 3-2.

Vikas is a gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games in Australia and the Strandja Memorial Championships in Bulgaria this year. He won the lightweight gold at the 2016 South Asian Games and the middleweight silver at the 2010 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Amankul bagged the silver at the World Championships in Hamburg, Germany and bronze at the Asian Championships last year.

Aside from Marcial, the other Filipino boxers who made it to the semifinals were Carlo Paalam in the light flyweight (46kg to 49kg) class and Rogen Ladon in the flyweight (52kg) category.