Castro, Basadre fall in semis

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Flyweight Godfrey Castro botched the first chance for a ticket to the Beijing Olympics on Saturday as he lost his semifinals bout, not on the ring but from dubious scoring in the second and final Olympic boxing qualifying tournament here.

With all the five judges refusing to give the 24-year-old Castro his points, the Filipino was denied his first chance to make the Beijing Games via a 23-25 loss in his semifinals bout with Uzbekistan’s G. Donirayov — one of the day’s decisions that elicited nothing but protests and jeers from the big Kazakh crowd who kept on shouting Castro’s name at the Sports Palace.

”Inilabas ko na ang lahat ng nalalaman ko, pero sorry po ayaw talaga ako ng mga judges,” a teary-eyed Castro said. “Meron pa akong pag-asa bukas sa box-off pero dapat sana nakuha ko na ngayon pa lang.”

Castro gets a second chance to gain an Olympic ticket on Sunday when he fights Indian Kumar Jintender, who retired in the third round of his semifinals date with Kazakhstan’s Mirat Sarsembayev, for the third and last Olympic berth offered in the 51 kilos category.

The second Filipino semifinalist in the five-man RP Smart-PLDT Boxing Team, lightweight Genebert Basadre, was outclassed by Kazakhstan’s Merey Akshalov, who raced to 24-4 lead in the third round for an RSC-OS (Referee Stopped Contest-Outscored) win.

The judges gave the boxing community a hint of what to expect from the Castro-Donirayov fight when they awarded the Uzbek four straight points for glancing blows right after the first bell.

And when the usually slow-starting Castro started to connect, the Uzbek was given back a point every time the Filipino scored.

The Uzbek actually kissed the canvas twice after running smack into Castro’s right but the referee ruled a slip on both occasions.

And when Castro moved in, 22-23 with only a minute left, the Uzbek called a timeout for the adjustment of his headgear – his third in the four-round bout – and the lull gave his corner time to give instructions.

After the timeout, the Uzbek went into a clinch and then threw left and right while breaking out of the clinch, a ploy that gave the judges the chance to award him with two precious points.

“Wala na tayong magagawa sa nangyari. Hindi naman tayo puwedeng maglupasay at mag-protesta. Ginawa na natin ang lahat ng paraan para makaiwas sa ganyang pangyayari pero di pa rin tayo nagtagumpay,” said Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez, who left his post at the Panel of Juries to console his boys.

“Pinagbigyan yung request natin na huwag mag-referee yung taga England pero nagulat na lang ako dahil inilagay naman siyang isa sa mga judges,” Lopez added, referring to the Englishman who acted as the referee of Joan Tipon’s first fight where the Filipino was given points deduction twice.