Lerio assured of bronze but Galido bows to Iranian

BANGKOK -- Lightfly Danilo Lerio, Jr. and light-middleweight Chris Camat were left to carry the heavy load for Team Caltex Philippines Tuesday after welterweight Reynaldo Galido unceremoniously kissed his Olympic hopes goodbye at the Bangkapi Convention Hall here.

Galido, supposedly the country's best bet in this third and final Asian qualifying tournament for the Sydney Olympics, was a mere shadow of his usual self in absorbing a 12-17 loss to Iranian counterpart Mochimi Babak.

Galido's loss came after Lerio, whose elder brother Arlan is already assured of a flyweight slot in the Sydney Games, survived Malaysia's Sapok Biki, 9-7, assuring the 19-year-old Navyman from North Cotabato of a bronze and moving him a win away from a ticket to Sydney.

Camat, a determined 21-year-old Fil-Am, will try to do the same Wednesday when he climbs the ring against Yarbekov of Uzbekistan.

After drawing a bye in the first round of the preliminaries, Camat nailed an automatic bronze with his spectacular 15-10 come-from-behind win over China's Zhan Zhen Monday.

Camat, out to silence his detractors back home, was knocked down twice in the first round of his debut for the national team before pulling off the magical win. He knocked the Chinese down in the third and stood his ground in a furiously battled fourth.

"Sila na lang ang pag-asa ng bayan. They must realize that this is their last chance to go to Sydney. It's now or never ... that's why we can't afford to lose these two bouts," added Lopez.

Victories by Lerio and Camat will give the RP team supported by Adidas, Pacific Heights, Caltex and the Philippine Sports Commission a total of five boxers bound for Sydney in September along with Lerio the flyweight, lightweight Larry Semillano and light-welter Romeo Brin.