By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Rising stars of the Philippine youth team made waves at the Asian Boxing U15 and U17 Championships after delivering two bronze medals recently in Amman, Jordan.
Ermalie Caballero and Leo Mhar Lobrido made it to the podium after reaching the semifinals of their respective divisions.
Caballero yielded to Uzbekistan’s Sabrina Chakamanova in a 5-0 unanimous decision in their U17 girls 54kg bout, while Lobrido absorbed a close 3-2 split decision loss to Ukraine’s Mykhailo Sydorenko in their U17 boys 44-46kg match.
The two Filipinos’ opponents eventually settled for silver finishes after succumbing in their final bouts.
Interestingly, Caballero was the only Filipino female who competed in the tournament.
Other Filipino fighters who saw action were Noel Cagubcob Jr. (U15 boys 30-33kg), Richard Payla Jr. (U15 boys 37kg), Matthew Ayumana (U15 boys 46kg), Jefferson Amaya (U17 boys 48kg), Raimer Soledad Jr. (U17 boys 50kg), John Elmer Napoles (U17 boys 52kg), Ziadrach James Cabrera (U17 boys 63kg), and Jorma Creo (U15 boys 64kg).
Kazakhstan dominated the tournament with an overall haul of 16 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze medals, followed by Uzbekistan with 15 gold, 15 silver and 12 bronze medals. India collected 15 gold, six silver and 22 bronze medals, while Ukraine reaped five gold, seven silver and 24 bronze medals.
Iran had a 1-5-5 gold-silver-bronze tally, followed by Japan (1-1-2), Iraq (1-0-1), Turkmenistan (1-0-1), Bahrain (1-0-0), and Jordan (0-4-7).
Next for the PH boxers is the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand on May 22 to June 2, before proceeding to training camp in Astana, Kazakhstan on June 21 to 28 in preparation for the World Boxing Cup also in Astana on June 29 to July 7.
