SHOWCASING the fruits of her pre-tournament training camp, Hergie Bacyadan displayed better ring skills and scored a lopsided 5-0 decision win over Spain’s Dunia Mas Martinez last Monday night in the opening round of the women’s 75kg division in the 2nd World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand.
No longer too reliant on her punching power as before, Bacyadan was in command from start to finish in gaining the nod of all five judges, four of them giving her 29-28 scores while the fifth had it 30-27 in the Kalinga native’s favor.
“Hergie moved better and set up her attacks at the right moment compared to her last tournament,” noted Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines secretary general Marcus Manalo, a keen ringside spectator, of the boxer’s performance.
In the next round, Bacyadan will face Ukraine-born boxer Veronika Nakota, who also posted a unanimous decision win over Sweden’s Love Holgersson.
“Hopefully this carries over against better competition in the next rounds,” added Manalo of the only other Pinoy Olympic hopeful remaining outside of Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam after Criztian Pitt Laurente was eliminated two days ago.
Unable to execute the game plan of his coaches, Laurente was outclassed last night by Kazakhstan’s tall and lanky Bazarbay Uulu Mukhammedsabyr 0-5 in the opening bout of the men’s 63.5kg class.
Paalam was scheduled to fight last night against Turkmenistan’s Shuzur Ovezov in the second round of the men’s 57kg division, and needs to win three more bouts to seal his return to the Olympic Games in Paris in July.
