By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
The Philippine team wound up with two bronze medals after Riza Pasuit and Mark Ashley Fajardo lost their respective semifinal bouts on Thursday, May 29, in the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok.
Pasuit was the first to fall after absorbing a unanimous 5-0 decision loss to Kazakhstan’s Viktoriya Grafeyeva in the women’s lightweight division (60kg) before Fajardo followed suit with a similar unanimous 5-0 decision defeat to Thailand’s Khunatip Pidnuch in the men’s welter (65kg) class.
Pasuit proved no match to an aggressive Grafeyeva as the Kazakh fighter earned 30-26 score from three judges, 30-27 from one, and 30-27 from another.
Fajardo, for his part, got 28-29 from two judges and 27-30 from three against his Southeast Asian rival.
Pasuit and Fajardo’s semis appearance already earned them bronze medals as their other teammates bowed out early in their matches.
Other Filipinos who saw action in the annual tournament were Aaron Jude Bado (men’s bantam 55kg), Jay Bryan Baricuatro (men’s fly 50kg), John Paul Napoles (men’s light 60kg), Ronald Chavez Jr. (men’s light middle 70kg), and Ofelia Magno (women’s light fly 48kg).
The tournament is part of the PH team’s preparations for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games that Thailand is also hosting in December where the Filipino hopes to maintain or eclipse their four-gold, five-silver, one-bronze haul in the 2023 edition in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
