Eumir Marcial loses opening bout, bows out of Paris Olympics

Team Philippines’ Eumir Marcial, right, fights Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev in their preliminary men’s 80kg boxing match at the Paris Olympics 2024, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/John Locher)

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Eumir Marcial, one of Team Philippines’ brightest hopes for a medal, crashed out of the 2024 Paris Olympics boxing hunt early Wednesday morning (Manila time).

Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan outpointed Marcial in their men’s 80-kilogram boxing duel at North Paris Arena, deftly using his long reach to keep the power-punching Filipino at bay.

The 6-foot-1 southpaw kept coming in behind his jab to land key shots against Marcial in the opening round, shutting his opponent out there to set the pace of the match.

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Khabibullaev gave up little ground in the second round, even as Marcial began pressing on the attack.

Marcial had said this would be his last Olympics and was hoping to finish higher than his bronze medal in the Tokyo Summer Games.

But he could not get much going against his foe, who won on all judges’ scorecards.

Marcial was hoping to join Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio in the next round of the country’s medal hunt. Both Villegas and Petecio earlier subdued their foes to move on to the next phase of the women’s competitions.

Carlo Paalam and Hergie Bacdayan make their Paris Olympics debut in the round of 16 of men’s 57kg and women’s 75kg divisions, respectively, on Wednesday.