(Asian Games) Pugs back on track as welterweight Lopez scores

GUANGZHOU—The national boxing team got knocked down Tuesday night. It got up again Wednesday afternoon.

Welterweight Wifredo Lopez took no chances against Bangladesh’s Suruz Bangali and hacked out a 5-1 victory Wednesday in the 16th Asian Games at the Foshan Gymnasium.

“I did what I had to do,” the shy Lopez told the Inquirer in Filipino. “I just struck with jabs and straights and tried to figure him out. After I studied him, that’s when I went on the attack.”

Lopez battles 20-year-old Arshad Hussein of Pakistan in the next round. Hussein advanced with a referee-stopped-contest against Palestine’s Ahmed Altaramsi right in the first round.

“We have a long way to go but where morale is concerned, this is a win that uplifted the team’s spirits,” boxing association executive director Ed Picson said.

Lopez’s victory was a shot in the arm for a boxing squad that opened its campaign in these Games wrapped in a pall of gloom as Charly Suarez, its top gold medal hope, got the boot from a previously unknown Daniyar Tulegenov of Kazakhstan Tuesday night.

Flyweight Rey Saludar starts his quest against Bhutan’s Kinley Gyleltshen in the 52 kg division and brother Vic faces Muhammad Mohd Redzuan of Malaysia in the 49 kg (light flyweight) class.