FILIPINO Eljay Pamisa overpowered Iranian Nima Beygi on Sunday to barge into the gold medal round in the bantamweight division of the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Junior and Youth Championships at the Al Hossein Sports City in Amman, Jordan.
The 17-year-old Cagayan de Oro native dazzled Mr. Beygi with his punishing counters and deft footwork in securing him a spot in the finals against Uzbek Abduvali Buriboev, who lost to Indian Anand Yadav in their semis duel but won his protest to take the finals berth instead.
Mr. Pamisa, a silver medal winner in the 2019 Asian Junior Championships in Al Fujaira, United Arab Emirates when he was still competing in the lighter divisions, is one of the country’s top junior boxers and a gold here would be a testament to his oozing potential.
Other members of the team are junior boxers (15-16 years old) Robert Malunoc, Jr. (46kg), Justine Valero (48kg) and Van Hendrich Abing (50kg) while the youth team is composed of (16-17 years old) Reymond Lofranco (48kg) and John Wayne Vicera (51kg).
Meanwhile, the ASBC held its Congress and Elections Saturday at the Marriott Bonvoy Hotel in the same city.
Representing the Philippines were Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines president Ed Picson and secretary-general Marcus Manalo.
Thailand’s Pichai Chunhavajira was elected as the new ASBC president besting his opponent Saken Polatov of Uzbekistan, 18 votes to 11.
ABAP president Mr. Picson is one of the close advisers of the prominent Thai businessman-sportsman. — Joey Villar