Filipino Lerio loses by the barest of margins

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Sydney: Filipino flyweight Arlan Lerio followed brother Danilo out of the Olympic boxing tournament on Sunday, losing by the closest of margins after a punch 10 seconds from the final bell.

Arlan drew 18-18 with Poland's Andrzej Rzany but lost 70-69 on the complicated count-back system taking into account the individual blows scored by the five judges.

Just as agonisingly, he had been a point up and heading for the quarter-finals until the fateful blow landed.

On Friday afternoon, his light-flyweight brother had been two points ahead against Spaniard Rafael Lozano until the European found the winning blows in the last 20 seconds.

Rzany, who took a standing eight count in the third round, was level 13-13 with Lerio after the third round but the Filipino managed to pull ahead in the fourth until the Pole found what would prove the winning punch.

The Pole had led the first round 6-2 and the second 10-6 before Lerio, who was also warned for hitting Rzany on the back of the head, came back in the third and downed him with a left hook.

"I think the public would probably have judged the other way because the Polish boy fell down on the floor," said Filipino deputy sports minister Monico Puentevella on the knife-edge decision.

"He was running for the last two rounds. So how can you win by one point when you have been running the last two?"

"These two brothers actually lost in the last 10 and 20 seconds," added Puentevella.

Arlan Lerio was the last Filipino boxer in the Olympics, a huge disappointment for a country that won a light-flyweight silver medal with Mansueto Velasco in Atlanta in 1996.

"Unfortunately here we are not so lucky," said Puentevella "We just have to review our programme and maybe in the next four years in Athens we hope to do better.

"This was probably the fight that Filipinos have been praying and hoping for because he was the last survivor and we were pinning all our hopes on this guy.

"We have four more taekwondo players, but the Philippines is known basically more for boxing."



(c) Reuters Limited.