ASIAN GAMES 2018: LADON GOES FOR THE GOLD; GILAS PILIPINAS PLACES 5TH
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 01 Sep 2018
Only one man was left standing among the eight Filipino boxers in the 2018 Asian Games. Flyweight Rogen Ladon kept his gold medal hopes alive when he won against Thailand's Yuttapong Tongdee by unanimous decision in the semifinal round yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The 2016 Rio Olympic fighter scored a very convincing triumph, 5-0. Three judges scored the fight a shutout at 30-27 while the other two saw it 29-28 all for Ladon.
The 24-year-old Ladon said he tried to get the feel of his foe's strategy in the first round. In the second round, his jab-straights hit those targets.
Ladon, who is from Bago City, will go for the gold against Uzbekistan's Jasurbek Latipov at 3:15 pm (Philippine time) today, September 1.
Latipov defeated Kyrgyzstan?s Azat Uzenaliev, 4-1, in the other semifinal match held at the Jakarta International Expo Boxing Hall.
Coach Ronald Chavez said that they sort of confused the Thai by changing Ladon's style in the first round . The instruction was to tease the opponent with his right and deliver the left straight which Ladon executed properly.
Ladon was cut with 1:57 left in the third round but this did not bother him as he delivered more effective jabs and combinations towards Tongdee.
ABAP secretary general Ed Picson said his experiences in the World Championships and the Olympic made him control the fight and maintained composure all throughout
Aside from the 2016 Olympics, Ladon also fought in the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Qatar and won the bronze medal. He won the a silver medal in the 2015 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Qian'an, China.
Picson added that it was a perfect decision for Rogen to go up to the flyweight because he kept on winning silvers in the light flyweight. He told Rogen "enough of those silvers" and go for the gold.
The coaches expect a close fight between southpaws for Ladon and Latipov in the gold medal match, as the Filipino is more comfortable fighting a fellow left-hander.
Ladon defeated Kazakhstan's Azat Mametov by a 3-2 split decision in the quarterfinals. He also scored an easy unanimous decision win over Nepal?s Prem Chaudhary in the round of 16 preliminaries.
Light flyweight Carlo Paalam bid goodbye with middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial as both lost their respective bouts and settled for bronze medals.
Paalam was defeated by a very close split decision to Amit Panghal of India. The scores were 30-27 and 29-28 twice for Amit and 29-28 twice for Paalam.
Eumir Marcial lost to Ismail Madrimov of Uzbekistan in the middleweight semifinals. Three judges scored it 28-27 for Madrimov while the other two saw it 28-27 for Marcial.
In basketball, Team Pilipinas showed potent force against Syria yesterday, 109-55, to grab fifth place in the 2018 Asian Games at the GBK Basketball Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia.
After a heartbreaking defeat to South Korea in the quarterfinals, our cagers went on to score two convincing victories in the classification round, the other against Japan.
The 5th place in the Asian Games will be the highest finish for the Philippine men's basketball team in 16 years, since the 4th place finish in the 2002 Busan Games.
Jordan Clarkson was brilliant with his 29 points, four rebounds, and six assists.
Christian Standhardinger contributed 27 points and 15 rebounds. Asi Taulava had 11 and Stanley Pringle 10 points for the Rain or Shine reinforced Gilas Pilipinas.
Photo shows Rogen Ladon (left) beating Tongdee Yuttapong of Thailand to advance to the finals.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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