The color of the medal is the only thing to be decided.
Believe it or not, Team Philippines is already assured of a medal in boxing in the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which is set to formally open in Cambodia on Friday.
The country’s good fortune is due to the lack of boxers competing in the men’s 92-kilogram class (super-heavyweight division), where only two boxers—one from the hosts and the other from Thailand—were initially entered.
According to veteran sports analyst Quinito Henson, Cambodia requested the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) to enter a fighter in said weight class so hostilities can actually proceed.
The ABAP obliged, enlisting 6-foot-5 Markus Tongco to compete in the 92-kilogram class. A former basketball player, Tongco reportedly started training with Team Philippines only last month and will make his international debut in Cambodia. The Cagayan de Oro native, who is just 24 years old, has one official fight under his belt—a loss in a three-rounder against a former professional boxer.
However Tongco’s debut goes in hostile territory, he will still come home with a medal, which could even be silver if he is lucky enough to draw a bye. In such case, his international debut will be a battle for gold right away. If Tongco does not draw a bye, however, his first bout in Cambodia will be for the right to fight in the gold medal round—where a loss will relegate him to a bronze medal and the incentives that come with it.
Curiously, the same thing happened to the Philippine boxing team way back in 1989 in the Kuala Lumpur Games, with the late Gregorio Calinawan in Tongco’s role as third wheel. Calinawan, according to Henson’s report, went to Malaysia only as a coach, but ended up fighting anyway because there were only two fighters entered in the +81-kilogram category (a Thai and a Malaysian). He wound up fighting—and losing—in the semis against Malaysia’s Haji Harun to settle for the bronze.
Will Tongco meet the same fate, or will he win a most improbable gold?
Boxing action begins on Saturday, May 6, at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
(With reports from Quinito Henson, The Philippine Star)