The lone Filipino boxer, Mark Anthony Barriga who is vying for the elusive Olympic gold medal have successfully won his first match against an Italian opponent Manuel Cappai.
The 19-year-old Light Flyweight (49 Kgs.) boxer from Panabo, Lanao del Norte made a sensation opening match with the final score at 17-7.
Barriga dominated the entire three rounds of the game, giving a hard time for his much taller opponent which was being pummeled with a barrage of counter punches. He also made an impressive combinations of punches which led to a standing eight-count in the second round.
Mark Anthony Barriga was the only good news for the 11-men Philippine delegation since the start of the world’s largest and most spectacular sporting events. The Filipino boxer have now a better chance of moving into the next round of 16 wherein he will face Birzhan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan who defeated Jeremy Beccu of France.
Other boxers who have already made to the round of 16 in the Light Flyweight Division were the following:
- Zhiming Zou of China
- Yosbany Veitia Soto of Cuba
- Thomas Essomba of Cameroon
- Paddy Barnes of Iceland
- Devendro Singh Laishram of India
- Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia
- David Ayrapetya of Russian Federation
- Ramy Elawady of Egypt
- Jonghun Shin of South Korea
- Others results to be posted later…
