I shed a tear for Harry

By Al S. Mendoza

BRING tears to my eyes. Why, I can’t anymore.

Harry Tanamor deserves our praise. He fought well. He gave it all. Body and soul.

I guess, I had shed a tear for Harry.

That was the least I could do.

He did his best. Alas, his best was not enough.

He lost to the better guy.

Mangyo Plange beats Harry, 6-3.

It came not only with decisiveness. With conviction, too.

Unfazed by Harry’s reputation as a boxing legend, Plange plunged to action with just one mission in mind: Defy the odds.

Plange, from Africa’s Ghana, did it with much success, making him the toast of his country after inflicting the biggest upset thus far in Beijing’s Olympic calendar.

Who could have thought Harry would fall?

Happening yet in his first Olympic outing?

He was the silver medalist in the Chicago World Championships in July, dropping a close fight against a Chinese in the finals.

This same Chinese is gunning for the gold and he seems on course to top the 48-kg event.

If you’d look at Plange’s record, no way he could have beaten Harry.

Plange was eliminated right in the first round of the Chicago World Championships.

Who was it again who said you need a lot of luck to win the big one?

In beating Harry, it felt like Plange had already won the gold medal.

“I was told Harry was an icon in the Philippines,” said Plange after the victory. “That gave me the spark to try harder to make me beat him.”

When others would have shuddered at that thought, not Plange.

“I love challenges,” said Plange. “When I fight without a challenge, I amnot 100 percent up there.”

Plange’s victory also somewhat shattered the entire Olympic dream of a nation, whose golden hopes had been – again – pinned on the shoulders of Harry.

With reason.

Our last three Olympic medals all came in boxing. But we went zero the last two Olympiads in 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens.

We won a bronze medal in 1988 in Seoul through Leopoldo Serrantes and another bronze in 1992 in Barcelona through Roel Velasco.

Then we missed the first ever gold for the country when Onyok Velasco lost to a Bulgarian surnamed Boujilov to settle for the silver.

That was a close contest but, truly, we have got to admit it, accept it, like real sportsmen, gentlemen: Onyok lost.

Harry Tanamor lost, too, so please, cut that crap about his body punches against Plange not meriting scores from the judges.

In amateur boxing, blows to the body hardly matter.

The shots to the face, head, are what count. They are the scoring points.

Another year, another Olympics, another shutout – in boxing, that is.

We sent 15 in Beijing. As I write this, only six remain standing: Dagmil and Torres in athletics, Fabriga and Perez in diving, and taekwondo’s Go and Rivero.

This week, will we spring a miracle and snatch a medal in taekwondo through either Thsomlee Go or Tonette Rivero, or even both?

Only God knows.

(Readers may reach columnist at also147@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/general-admission/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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