Jutamas Jitpong gets back at Irish Magno to clinch QF spot

Irish Magno's Tokyo Olympic stint came to an end. From Magno's Facebook account

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Thailand's Jutamas Jitpong avenged her Southeast Asian Games loss to the Philippines' Irish Magno in a grander stage, prevailing via unanimous decision in their Tokyo Olympics women's flyweight boxing clash at the Kokugikan Arena in the Japanese capital on Thursday.

In a rematch of their 2019 contest here, Jitpong used her reach advantage well, keeping Magno at bay for most of the bout.

Although Magno delivered some great moments of her own, all the five judges had it 30-27 for Jitpong, who will next face Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey for an assured medal.

Cakiroglu scored a 3-2 split decision win over Tursunoy Rakhimova of Uzbekistan in their own second round affair.

Magno's loss leaves Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial as the only Filipino boxers left in the running for the Tokyo Olympic gold.

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