SUBIC—Team Philippines went four for four in the finals yesterday, barely missing the overall championship in the 2013 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships at Subic gym here.
World campaigners Jade Bornea and Eumir Felix Marcial and prized finds Ian Clark Bautista and James Palicte all delivered gold medals as the Filipinos nearly toppled the Kazakhs in the battle for supremacy in the 24-nation tournament.
Bornea, bronze medalist in the World Youth Championships held in Armenia last December, triggered the Filipinos’ onslaught when he edged Japanese Kosei Tanaka, 15-13, in their light flyweight (49 kilogram) duel.
A showboating Bautista followed suit by thwarting Uzbekistan’s Mirazizbek Murhalilov, 19-10, in the flyweight (52 kg) division, while Palicte, champion in the recent National Open in Maasin, Leyte, made it a triple with a 17-3 victory over China’s Liu Xiaoshuai in the bantamweight (56 kg) category.
Living up to hype, World Junior champion Marcial capped the impressive finish with a lopsided 29-12 conquest of Mongolia’s Batzorig Otgonjorgal in the light welterweight (64 kg) class.
Dominating the heavier divisions, Kazakhstan pipped the Philippines for top spot in the event confined to 17 and 18 year olds with a four-gold, one-silver medal haul.
The Kazakh winners were bantamweight (56 kg) Kanat Koptileijov, welterweight (69 kg) Aitzhan Shleyev, middleweight (75 kg) Tursynbay Kulhkmet and light heavyweight (81 kg) Adiet Orynbassarov.
Despite losing to Uzbekistan’s Oybek Sharipov in the heavyweight (91 kg) title bout, Aibek Ermetov provided Kazakhstan the buffer over the Philippines with his silver.
China accounted for the tenth and last gold through super heavyweight (+91 kg) Zhang Zhe, who nipped Uzbekistan’s Ulugbek Mubinov, 18-17.
Held to a 5-5 tie after the second round, Bornea heeded the advice of national coaches Romero Brin and Elmer Pamisa to throw more punches in the third and last round.
“Persistence and hard work paid off,” said Bornea, whose twin brother Jake is also a boxer, in Filipino.
Abap executive director Ed Picson said the Filipinos impressive stint was a testament to the strong grassroots development of the Abap headed by its president, Ricky Vargas, and chairman, Manny V. Pangilinan.
Though grieving the death of their father, Mansueto Sr., last Wednesday, national coaches Nolito and Roel Velasco were here to lend support to the Filipino boxers.
The highly successful tournament was backed by the MVP Sports Foundation, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, PLDT, Smart, NLEX, Maynilad, Clarktel and Subictel, among others.