2024 Boxing 2nd World Qualification Tournament – Day 7: Carlo Paalam progresses

Olympic silver medallist Carlo Paalam advanced to the 2024 Boxing 2nd World Qualification Tournament quarter-finals with a hard-fought win over Armenia’s Artur Bazeyan in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday (30 May).

The Filipino, who retired from the 1st World Qualifier in Italy with a shoulder injury, needed all of his experience to secure a split decision win in what was an attritional 57kg encounter.

The final scoreline of 4-1 masked the true nature of a difficult fight for Paalam, who was deducted a point in the last round before three judges called the bout even at 28-all.

The two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medallist will obtain a Paris 2024 Olympic quota if he gets past Jose Luis De Los Santos of the Dominican Republic on Friday.

Another SEA Games champion in Thailand’s Weerapon Jongjoho also qualified for the next round courtesy of a brutal stoppage victory over Kyrgystan’s Omurbek Bekzhigit Uulu in the men’s 80kg division.

Elsewhere, 2021 world bronze medallist and Tokyo 2020 Olympian Samuel Kistohurry of France had too much pace and power for Hyung-Seung Kim, recording a unanimous decision win over the Republic of Korea athlete in the men’s 57kg.

Iranian-born IOC refugee scholar Aryan Saed Panah took a significant step towards achieving his dream of winning an Olympic medal with a commanding unanimous decision win over Colombia’s Marlos Andres Hurtado at 92kg.

*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, athletes’ participation at Paris 2024 depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation.