(Eagle News) — Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam won the country’s second Olympic silver in the Tokyo Olympics after a split decision win by Great Britain’s Galal Yafai in the men’s flyweight division.
Yafai, 28, started strong in the first round that he won the first round after he was able to knock down the 23-year old Paalam.
It was a very close fight in the next two rounds, as Paalam tried to recover with his punches in the second round, and in the third round, that the judges had scored closely with just a slight margin for Yafai. The British boxer played defensively in the third round, as Paalam tried to gain more points. Both boxers traded punches, and Yafai was able to evade some of Paalam’s punches. The Filipino boxer tried to gain ground hitting more punches in the third round, trying to overpower Yafai.
In the end, both boxers gave their all, and it was a split decision for Yafai.
With Paalam’s win, the Philippines gets two Olympic silvers, both from the country’s boxers. The first silver was won by Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio in the women’s featherweight division.
The country now has four medals in the Tokyo Olympics: the gold won by Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting; the two silvers won by Petecio and Paalam; and the bronze from the win by another boxer, Eumir Marcial.
This is the biggest medal haul so far of the country in the Olympics.
(Eagle News Service)
