Eumir Marcial punches ticket to Tokyo Olympics

Filipino boxer Eumir Marcial is headed to Tokyo after reaching the semifinals of the Olympic qualifiers on Sunday in Amman, Jordan.

The World Championships silver medalist stopped Mongolian fighter Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar in the third round to advance in the last four of the middleweight division.

He is the third Filipino to qualify to the Olympics, joining pole vaulter EJ Obiena and world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo in the quadrennial meet.

"Natupad na rin ang pangarap namin ng Papa ko mula nung bata pa ako," said Marcial, who also won the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games.

"Apat na taon kong hinintay ito matapos na hindi ako naka qualify nung 2016 dahil sa injury," he added. Kaya napakatamis nito. Lalo ko pang dodoblehin ang training ko para makuha ko ang talagang target namin ng Papa ko—ang ginto sa Olympics."

Earlier, Marcial dominated Kirra Ruston of Australia in the preliminaries to set the tone of his campaign as the no. 1 seed in his division.

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Nesthy Petecio and Riza Pasuit, who took care of business in their preliminary matches in the women's lightweight and featherweight, also look to qualify to Tokyo with a win in the quarterfinals.

In the women's flyweight, Irish Magno booked her spot in the best eight after stopping Hong Kong's Winnie Yin Yin Au in the second round.

Carlo Paalam also barged into the quarterfinals in the men's flyweight, beating Afghanistan's Ramish Rahmani via unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, Ian Clark Bautista and James Palicte ended their respective campaigns for a spot in Tokyo after losing their bouts in the men's lightweight and featherweight divisions. —MGP, GMA News