Aaron Jude Bado banked on his fluidity in the last two rounds to stun World Championship bronze medalist Thanarat Saengphet of Thailand to capture the men’s flyweight (51kg) gold medal in the ASBC Asian U22 Boxing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand Thursday, Jan. 26.
After a slow start that allowed his Thai counterpart to land crisp shots, the 2019 Palarong Pambansa standout from Mindanao regained his composure with more aggressive hits to clinch the come-from-behind, split decision victory, 3-2.
It was a fitting ending for Bado, who was in his first international tournament.
“It was a great with for Bado and we’re really proud of this accomplishment,” said Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) secretary general and executive director Marcus Manalo.
Flint Jara, meanwhile, fell short on his gold-medal campaign in the men’s bantamweight (54kg) class after yielding to Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Altunbek via unanimous decision to settle for the silver medal.
Overall, the PH contingent went home with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
The two bronzes came from Jericho Acaylar in the men’s featherweight (57kg) and Mark Lester Durens in the men’s minimumweight (48kg).
This is the first international tournament in ABAP’s calendar this year as it gears up for more competitions that include the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May and the 19th Asian Games in China in September.