PHNO-SP: AT THE OLYMPICS: PHILIPPINES' MARK BARRIGA LOST BY SLIMMEST MARGIN

AT THE OLYMPICS: PHILIPPINES' MARK BARRIGA LOST BY SLIMMEST
MARGIN
MANILA, AUGUST
5, 2012 (STANDARD) By Joe
Antonio - Lightflyweight Mark Barriga of the Philippines lost by the slimmest
of margin, 17-16, to Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan in their Round-of-16 fight
at the ExCel Arena in the 30th Summer Olympics in London.
The 19-year old from Panabo, Davao Oriental, who stood four inches shorter
than his Kazakh opponent, trailed by only a point, 4-5 in the first round, but
put together dizzying combination in the second to seize a two-point lead on a
6-3 score in the second round.
It was a different, albeit strange, story in the third round.
Barriga continued to take the fight to Zhakypov in the third round, but the
referee unexplicably deducted a point from the Filipino for clinching midway in
the round.
That puzzling point deduction kept Barriga on the defensive against Zhakypov,
who resorted to a punch-and-clinch tactic throughout the remaining time.

[PHOTO -Light flyweight Mark Barriga easily handled Italy's Manuel
Cappai]
The referee again deducted a point, this time on both Barriga and Zhakypov
with only a second to go.
At the close of the round, the judges gave Zhakypov a 9-6 score to advance to
the quarterfinal round.

Barriga thus failed to advance, and towed with him the hopes of his
countrymen for a possible medal in boxing in this year's Olympics.

[PHOTO -Mark Barriga and Coach Roel Velasco]
Filipino-Japanese judoka Tomohiko Hoshina went down in defeat faster than he
could say "domo arigato", leaving Team Philippines down to only two men and a
woman as it struggled pitifully in the face of powerful opposition in the 30th
Olympic Games.
From an original cast of 11 athletes, only long jumper Marestella Torres, BMX
rider Danny Caluag and 5,000-meter runner Rene Hererra remain standing for the
Philippine team, which continued to take it on the chin deep into the opening
week of the world's biggest sporting event.
The latest to fall was Hoshina, who lost to South Korean Kim Sung-min by
"ippon", never recovering from a thud with barely 1 minute and 05 seconds gone
in the six-minute duel in one of th e most-sided matches for the day.
"He's too good for me," said the 25-year-old Hoshina through an Olympic
interpreter, the smile on his face that has endeared him to his teammates now
missing. "That's judo, you either win or lose."




Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi

© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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