BAGO City's Rogen Ladon and Eumir Felix Marcial of Zamboanga City settled for silver medals in the just-concluded ASBC Asian Boxing Championships held in Thammasat University gym in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 21-year-old Ladon lost in the finals 0-2 to Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan. Marcial also absorbed a 0-3 upset against Asian Games champion Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan.
On their way to the finals, Ladon defeated Gan-Erdene Gankhuyag of Mongolia in the semifinals, 3-0.
Despite the loss, both fighters still have the chance to make it to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero in Brazil. The duo automatically qualified for the Aiba World Championships on October 5 to 15 in Doha, Qatar.
Marcial is the last fighter in Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap) to secure the gold medal in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore while Ladon went home with a silver after losing to Indonesian Kornelis Kwangu Langu in the finals.
Meanwhile, SEA Games gold medalist and Binalbagan native Clark Ian Bautista suffered a heartbreaking loss in the tournament’s quarterfinal round.
National coach and former Olympian Roel Velasco said that Ladon and Marcial should do more to win gold in the World Championships and the Olympics.
“I congratulated the boys and told them what is important is that they qualified in the World Championships. They need to train harder and be ready for the next tournament, and most of all to win the gold medal,” said the Bago City-hailed mentor.
Abap executive director Ed Picson said that Ladon has over-achieved in the tournament and deserved credit. (HGD)