Philippines’ Carlo Paalam scored a sensational victory over the defending Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in their flyweight quarter-final bout to guarantee another Tokyo 2020 medal for his country at the Kokugikan Arena on Tuesday. It was a controversial conclusion to an enthralling, albeit brief, last-eight encounter that guaranteed the winner at least Olympic bronze. A clash of heads, deemed accidental, brought a halt to a furious round two with the referee noticing blood on both fighters. Paalam’s cut was judged superficial, but the ringside doctor immediately called off the contest after seeing the large gash which had opened up in the eyebrow of the World Championship gold medallist Zoirov. The experienced Uzbek was stunned by the decision and from that point was hoping the judges at ringside had seen enough in the opening 60 seconds of round two to award it to him, after Paalam had taken the opening round unanimously.
It wasn’t to be and the 23-year-old Paalam was given the win, a guarantee of a second Olympic medal for Philippines’ boxing “dream team” here in Tokyo, and a chance to fight for Olympic gold in Thursday’s semi-final.
Paalam will now face Japan’s Ryomei Tanaka, who earlier secured an unconvincing points victory against Colombia’s Yubejen Martinez.
The 27-year-old Tanaka’s best result prior to his run at these Olympics was a ninth-place finish at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018.
