At A Glance
- Destiny awaits Carlo Paalam as he inched one win away from returning to the Olympics after arranging a semifinal bout against a dangerous Indian foe in the men's 57kg of the 2nd World Boxing Qualification for Paris Games late Friday, May 31, in Bangkok, Thailand.
Destiny awaits Carlo Paalam as he inched one win away from returning to the Olympics after arranging a semifinal bout against a dangerous Indian foe in the men’s 57kg of the 2nd World Boxing Qualification for Paris Games late Friday, May 31, in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 25-year-old Bukidnon native flashed his dominance to overpower Jose Luis De los Santos Feliz of the Dominican Republic with a unanimous decision victory to stay in the hunt for one of the three quotas at stake in their weight class.
Three judges scored a close 29-28 decision while the remaining two gave 30-27 in favor of Paalam, whose triumph set him up a meeting with Sachin Siwach of India.
Sachin, a World Youth Champion and a 2019 South Asian Games gold medalist, outpointed France’s Samuel Kistohurry via a 4-1 split decision.
A victory by Paalam over Sachin would book him a ticket to Paris, where he hopes to take the gold this time after settling for the silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo edition.
On paper, Sachin boasts of a remarkable reach advantage at 5-foot-8 compared to Paalam’s 5-foot-4 frame.
A loss, however, would still give Paalam another shot for a box-off for the third and last Olympic seat with the losing semifinalist in the other pairing pitting Munarkbek Seiitbek Uulu of Kyrgyzstan and Aider Abduraimov of Ukraine.
Seiitbek Uulu was coming off a 3-1 victory over Shamil Askerov of Azerbaijan, while Abduraimov whipped Germany’s Denis Bril, 4-0, to advance to the Final Four.
Meanwhile, Bacyadan battles Veronika Nakota of Hungary at press time with high hopes of moving into the quarterfinals of the women’s 75kgs.
A win for Bacyadan against Nakota, who fought for Ukraine but transferred to Hungary in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, would keep her within reach for one of the four slots at stake in Paris.