PAALAM SETS TONE FOR PARIS OLYMPICS
CARLO PAALAM can now reboot for his quest of winning gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics after he won the men’s bantamweight gold medal at the Asian Boxing Confederation Elite Men and Women Championships in Amman, Jordan, on Saturday night.
“I hope this gold medal will be a good sign that I can win gold in Paris,” Paalam told Businessmirror as he and the other members of Team Philippines started to pack for home on Sunday. “I will prepare seriously with my coaches.”
Paalam never saw action in an organized competition since he clinched the men’s flyweight silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics August last year but always trained with the national teams.
He was tasked by his coaches to fight as a bantamweight—he added 3 pounds to his weight—to give way for another flyweight contender, Roger Ladon, in Amman.
He didn’t disappoint and on Saturday night, the 24-year-old from Cagayan de Oro City beat top-seeded Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan, 4-1, in the final.
“I was surprised with the way I moved despite the additional weight,” Paalam said. “I fought strong boxers but I felt good all the time and my endurance was okay.”
Paalam has to revert to flyweight because the bantamweight class is not on the Olympic program. He has enough time to shed weight though.
“There’s no pressure in reducing weight although I haven’t eaten rice for almost half a month,” he said. “It’s different when I’m competing in flyweight where I really need to reduce so hard. I eat bread, vegetables and fish most of the time.”
“I have to check how my body will react if I try returning to flyweight,” said Paalam, who skipped last
May’s Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi because of a shoulder injury he incurred in Tokyo. “But I have to savor this moment first before thinking about reducing.”
Paalam convincingly won all his fights in Amman, including a
5-0 rout of Seidekmatov Sanzhai of Kyrgyzstan in the semifinals.
Nesthy Petecio, also a silver medalist in Tokyo, settled for bronze in women’s featherweight, the same medal Hergie Bacyadan grabbed in women’s middleweight.