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| ABAP chief Marcus Manalo accused referee Maruf Urdushev of being biased in favor of Carlo Paalam's last two opponents. POC Media Pool |
QUEZON CITY—Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines president Marcus Manalo took exception to how referee Maruf Urdushev handled Carlo Paalam's last two matches in the Asian Games.
Speaking to reporters outside the Nishio City Gymnasium in Japan right after Paalam's tough final loss to hometown bet Rui Yamaguchi on Friday, Manalo said that he will seek a clarification from the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee as to why the umpire from Uzbekistan once again officiated the said bout when he already took care of Paalam's semifinal win against Makhmud Sabyrkhan.
"We're going to write at least to inquire about the process. Why did we have the same referee in the semis and finals?" Manalo said.
Manalo then accused Urdushev of spotty officiating even during that semifinal bout as he thought Urdushev tried to break Paalam's momentum by quickly pausing the action and cautioning him.
"Merong obvious bias against our boxer during the semifinals pa lang," Manalo further said.
Some keen-eyed boxing fans also observed how Urdushev seemingly cooled Paalam a bit in the semifinals against Sabyrkhan, even giving him a one-point deduction for multiple holding fouls when the said fouls were not clear.
Urdushev also warned Paalam a number of times against Yamaguchi, but many of them came just as Paalam was about to deliver a flurry on Yamaguchi.
"Yun yung frustrating. Paglabas pa lang nung referee, parang, 'Bakit siya ulit? Kung random man yan, what are the odds na siya ulit yung ma-assign sa atin?'" Manalo further expressed his disappointment.
While he acknowledged that the plan to seek an explanation is some sort of a "sore loser" move, Manalo further said that having the same referee already with questionable calls during the semifinals for the final raises more doubts about Urdushev's credibility.
"Parang ang sore loser nung dating. As much as possible, we don't want to really attribute our loss to external factors, pero malaki talaga yung impact sa naging performance," Manalo further said.
With Eumir Marcial backing out at the 11th hour due to lack of time to prepare fresh from a pro bout and Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio suffering shock early exits, Paalam was the Philippines' last hope to end a 16-year drought for an Asian Games boxing gold.
However, due to Yamaguchi's win, the drought will extend to 2031 in Doha.
