Aparri, 3 other RP fighters enter finals

MANILA, Philippines - Alice Kate Aparri waited so long for the chance to get back at her old tormentor.

Yesterday. the 25-year-old Filipina got what she wanted, a 3-1 win over Thailand’s Sopida Satumran in the semis of the women’s 48 kg class in the MVP International Boxing Friendship Cup.

“She beat me in the SEA Games finals in Thailand. Now I have avenged that defeat,” said Aparri inside the press room of the PICC Forum, where she pressed an ice pack against her bruised left eye.

It was in December of 2007, almost 31 months ago, when Aparri lost to Satumran in the battle for the SEA Games gold. The Philippines sent six female boxers to the finals against Thai fighters.

But only Annie Albania brought home the gold for the Philippines while the rest, including Aparri, took painful, questionable defeats that triggered a boycott by the Filipinos on the final day of the competition.

Aparri yesterday said all’s forgotten now.

“I have to focus on the finals and leave that behind,” said Aparri, a SEAG gold medalist in 2007 and 2009. In tomorrow’s finals, she faces China’s Shiqi Xu, a 13-3 winner against Macau’s Un Mou Kuan.

Aparri is a couple of inches taller than the Chinese but said she can’t count on it because she’d never seen Xu fight.

Another female boxer from the Philippines, Josie Gabuco, made it to the finals, this time with a 1-0 win over another Thai opponent, Dueannapha Ngalam, in the 46 kg division.

Gabuco, also a gold medalist in the 2009 Laos SEA Games, will take on Chinese Taipei’s Tu Fen Weng in the finals, the latter coming off a more convincing 16-5 victory over Macau’s Mak Kit in the semis.

Flyweight Gerson Nietes and bantam Glicerio Catolico III also made it to the finals, beating China’s Wu Rongguo, 8-5, and Hong Kong’s Tso Sing Yu, 13-3, respectively.

After winning all seven matches in Thursday’s opener of this seven-nation tournament, the Philippines took its first casualty in flyweight Rey Saludar who lost to Thailand’s Amnaj Ruenroeng, 7-3.

Saludar got off to a good start, racing to a 2-0 lead. But the Thai, who appeared to be the more experienced fighter, and the time it was over, the Thai fighter clearly had the victory on hand, and make it to the finals.

Bantamweight Recky Dulay, a winner last Thursday, was a loser on the second day of action. He lost to Thailand’s Donchai Thatl, 8-7, and his loss rubbed off to his teammate, welterweight Wilfredo Lopez, who lost to another Thai, Apichet Saensit in the succeeding bout.

Lopez’s cockiness inside the ring did not work against Saensit who zoomed to a 4-0 lead after the first of three rounds. The Thai was way ahead on points, 10-2, when the Filipino staggered, and the referee stepped in to stop the contest.