|
Godfrey
Castro lost in a flyweight semifinal in what RP
officials perceive as a dubiously scored bout in the
second and final Olympic boxing qualifying held Saturday
in
Astana,
Kazakhstan.
Castro,
who was teary-eyed after the match, lost, 25-23, to G.
Donirayov of Uzbekistan. It was said to be one of the
results that elicited protests and jeers from the
sizable Kazakh crowd at the Sports Palace, which chanted
Castro’s name in his support.
The
24-year-old Castro would get another shot in an Olympic
ticket when he fight Kumar Jintender Sunday.
Jintender retired in the third round of his semifinal
date with Mirat Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan for the third
and last Olympic berth offered in the 51-kilo category.
“I did
everything I could, but I’m sorry. The judges really
don’t like me,” Castro, teary-eyed and all, said. “I
still have a shot in the box-off tomorrow but I would’ve
wanted to get it [Saturday].”
“We
can’t do anything about it. We’ve done everything
possible to avoid the situation we were faced, but we
still fell short,” said Amateur Boxing Association of
the Philippines (Abap) president Manny Lopez, who left
his post at the panel of juries to console his boys.
Lightweight Genebert Basadre, the second Filipino
semifinalist in the five-man RP Smart-PLDT Boxing Team,
was outclassed by Merey Akshalov of Kazakhstan who raced
to 24-4 to lead in the third round for an RSC-OS
(Referee Stopped Contest-Outscored) win.
The
judges gave the boxing community a hint of what to
expect from the Castro-Donirayov fight when they awarded
the Uzbek four straight points for glancing blows right
after the first bell.
And when
the usually slow-starting Castro started to connect, the
Uzbek was given back a point every time the Filipino
scored.
The
Uzbek actually kissed the canvas twice after running
smack into Castro’s right, but the referee ruled a slip
on both occasions.
When
Castro moved in with the score standing at 23-22 to his
opponent’s advantage with only a minute left, the Uzbek
called a timeout for the adjustment of his headgear, his
third in the four-round bout. The lull gave his corner
time to give instructions.
After
the timeout, the Uzbek went into a clinch and then threw
a left and right while breaking out of the clinch, a
ploy that gave the judges the chance to award him with
two precious points.
One of
the judges being pointed for bias was an Englishman
whose reputation did not sit well with the Abap.
“We were
granted our request not to have the England referee
officiate the bout,” Lopez said, referring to the
Englishman who acted as the referee of Joan Tipon’s
first fight where the Filipino was given points
deduction twice, “but that didn’t matter because he was
assigned to be one of the judges. That surprised us.”
“Anyway,
it is not over yet and we must unite for this one last
push of Castro,” Lopez added. “It’s do-or-die for the
Philippines tomorrow.” |
