ZAMBOANGA City pride Eumir Felix Marcial overwhelmed China’s Jan Xo Ja to score a 5-0 victory and bag the middleweight gold medal in the Ulaanbaatar Cup 2017, where the Philippine team also snatched one silver and two bronze medals in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, over the weekend.
Marcial, a 2011 World Junior champion as a 15-year-old flyweight, used power and guile in disposing of Jan and lead the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) squad to a modest finish.
Rio de Janeiro Olympian Rogen Ladon of Bago City missed the gold medal by a whisker to hometown boy Ganhuyag Gian-Erdene, 2-3, in the light-flyweight final.
Lightweight Charly Suarez (Davao del Sur) and featherweight Riza Pasuit (Bacolod) delivered the bronze medals.
“We are confident that the boys are going to peak at the right time both for the World Championships and the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. August is still about two months away and we still have some planned exposures for our boxers,” Abap President Ricky Vargas said.
“We are very thankful that the Philippine Sports Commission and the MVP Sports Foundation have both been very supportive of our efforts,” Vargas added.
Suarez, also a Rio Olympian, bowed to another Mongolian in the semifinals, Ganbaatar Bayarkhuu, via split decision, 2-3.
Pasuit also salvaged a bronze after losing her semifinal match with Russian Natalya Chadrina, 0-5.
With the four-medal haul, the Philippines placed fourth overall in the championships behind host Mongolia, North Korea and India. There were 14 teams in the tournament.
The other members of Team Philippines were flyweights Dannel Maamo and Judelyn Casin of Cagayan de Oro City and bantamweight Jorge Edusma of Cebu. Coaches were Nolito Velasco, Gerson Nietes and Violito Payla.
The trip to Mongolia is part of the boxers’ preparations for the SEA Games in August in Kuala Lumpur.