By JP Abcede
MANILA--Flyweight Dannel Maamo finds himself in the same bracket as Cuban top seed Yosvany Veitía after getting drawn with Botswana’s Mahomed Otukileo in the first round of the 17th AIBA World Championship. The official draw was held at the Rathaus and was attended by national coach Nolito Velasco.
Maamo’s clash with the African entry takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday (Manila time). If victorious, the Filipino boxer will have to deal with the veteran Veitía, the 2015 world championships silver medalist at fly and 2013 worlds bronze medal winner at light-fly, in the round of 16 after the Cuban drew a bye.
Maamo has been largely overlooked as the weight class lists Veitía as the gold medal contender alongside Mohamed Flissi of Algeria, David Avila of Colombia, Mannuel Cappai of Italy, and Jasurbek Latipov of Kazyakhstan.
In the history of the worlds, only three Filipinos have won medals in the biennial slugfest. Roel Velasco and Harry Tañamor were silver medalists in 1997 (Budapest) and 2007 (Chicago). Rogen Ladon got his bronze two years ago in Doha.
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