Tañamor delivers RP’s lone gold

HYDERABAD, India — Confronted by a pesky and slippery Indian rival, Harry Tañamor rallied behind a combination of body shots and head blows to nip Mohd Ali Qamar in the countback and deliver the Philippines its lone gold in the first Afro-Asian Games at the GMC Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli here Friday.

Tañamor played catch-up after falling behind 7-11 in the first round but flashed some kind of resiliency to draw level in the next before the two fighters slugged it out toe-to-toe in the last two rounds of their thrilling light flyweight championship showdown.

The fight was too close to call that it ended at 19-all after four rounds of top-notch amateur boxing but the veteran Filipino fighter emerged the surprise winner with a 65-63 score culled from the points of the five judges.

"Hindi ko rin akalain na ganun kadikit ang laban, basta sabi ni coach atake lang at kailangang makapatama ng husto," said Tañamor, referring to coach Pat Gaspi’s instruction the last three rounds.

Tañamor’s triumph, fashioned out before a dejected hometown crowd, came after netter Johnny Arcilla got ambushed by Vijay Kannan, also of India, 1-6, 1-6, in the men’s singles final at the nearby SAAP tennis complex, and after fellow boxer Violito Payla bowed to a taller Akhil Kumar, 16-20, in their flyweight clash.

Arcilla and Payla settled for silver, giving the Philippines a 1-4-10 (gold-silver-bronze) medal haul and a superb 15th place showing in the inaugural event between the two continents ruled by Asian superpower China, which ran away with a 25-11-5 tally. Host India racked up 19 golds that went with 32 silvers and 29 bronze medals for second while Japan finished third with 15-6-2 output. Nigeria emerged the best finisher from Africa at fourth with a 10-12-13 haul.

Long jumper Lerma Bulauitan and swimming prodigy Liane Marice Marquez (50m backstroke) won the Philippines’ two other silvers while the overachieving junior swimmers, standouts in the recent SEA age-group championships in San Pablo City, and the talented bunch of netters — Joseph Victorino, Adelo Abadia, Czarina Mae Arevalo and Patricia Santos — accounted for the bronze medals.

"Magandang panalo yung ke Tañamor, sa galing ng kalaban, tapos Indiano pa, mahirap talagang manalo," said Gaspi, whose wards’ stint here was led by ABAP president Manny Lopez, who also served as the technical delegate of Asia in the meet, and backed by Revicon, Accel, Pacific Heights and the Philippine Sports Commission.

But for a while, Tañamor, winner of the silver medal in the Busan Asian Games, appeared headed for a big letdown.

Ranged against an aggressive rival, the 25-year-old Tañamor found himself on the defensive and couldn’t launch his vaunted straights and right cross as Qamar, egged on by a boisterous crowd, kept on flicking away jabs and scoring hits to the Filipino bet’s head.

"Hindi naman ako nawalan ng kumpiyansa at mabuti na lang kumonekta ang mga patama ko sa mga sumunod na round," said Tañamor, who after levelling the count in the second round, engaged the Indian in a virtual brawl in the next two, particularly in the dying seconds of the match.

The crestfallen Indian fell down on his knees as Tañamor, who also beat Qamar in the Chowdhry Cup in 2001, danced around the ring when the referee raised his arm in triumph, ensuring his inclusion in the elite list of gold medal winners in the meet.