Filipino Olympians Eumir Felix Marcial and Carlo Paalam will have to cxhange their weight classes when they seek qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
For Marcial, it will be a difficult decision, while it will be easier for Paalam.
There is a new format that will be used for Paris 2024 and it recently got approval from the International Olympic Committee Executive Board following months of development.
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary general Marcus Manalo said this after learning of the changes in the weight classes that will be played in the coming Olympiad.
Marcial, who competed in the men’s 75-kg during the Tokyo Games has two options—he will have to decide if he will go down to 71 kgs or climb up to 80.
For Paalam, it will be easier because he will adjust by a kilogram, from 52 kgs to just 51.
“Carlo Paalam, Rogen Ladon and other Olympic hopefuls who are currently at 52 kgs will also have to go down to 51 kgs, which again shouldn’t be a big problem. The concern is for Eumir Marcial who fought in Tokyo at 75 kgs. If he’s still aiming for Paris, he will need to either go down to 71 kgs or go up to 80 kgs,” said Manalo in an interview with the Manila Standard.
The new system does not include the 75-kg and the 52-kg events in the men’s division, where Marcial got a bronze and Paalam claimed a silver, respectively, in the Tokyo Olympics.
Under the new system, there are seven men’s weight categories to be contested at the Paris Games—the under-51kg, under-57kg, under-63.5kg, under-71kg, under-80kg, under-92kg and over-92kg.
The women’s competition is set to take place at under-50kg, under-54kg, under-57kg, under-60kg, under-66kg and over-75kg categories.
Marcial, who recently scored a fourth-round technical knockout win against American Isiah Hart, is set to go to Muaklek, Thailand to join the national team’s training camp.
Manalo said Marcial will join the 24-member Philippine national team that is getting ready for the country’s campaign in the coming Southeast Asian Games set to happen next month in Vietnam.