BEIJING?There was something strange about Harry Tañamor after he lost his light flyweight bout to Ghana?s Mangyo Plange, 6-3, Wednesday night, an official of Team Philippines and a sportswriter swear.
Tañamor looked the least bothered by his defeat and was seen smiling as he headed for the dugout. The man who shouldered his nation?s boxing resurrection in the Olympics and failed did not speak to the reporters who tried to interview him at the venue?s so-called ?mixed zone,? a corridor where media people, athletes and coaches can meet.
?Anong nangyayari kay (What?s happening with) Harry,? asked the sportswriter. ?Bakit ganun siya, bakit pangiti-ngiti pa (Why?s was he acting like that, why was he smiling)??
Because it was already deadline time, reporters vowed to ask Tañamor, or amateur boxing chief Manny Lopez, about it later.
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The Beijing Workers Stadium, where the Olympic boxing competitions are being held, looks like a twin of the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. Built in the 1950s in honor of China?s ?heroic workers,? the stadium seats about 12,000 and has seen many unforgettable Communist Party pep rallies and purges, according to a Chinese tour guide.
?Many party officials also met their fate at the stadium, purged for corruption and acts inimical to the workers? party,? said the guide, who asked not to be named.