The slot in the Beijing Olympics remained elusive for Joan Tipon.

And again, it was his chief rival, Thai star Worapoj Petchkoom, who denied the Bacolod City-born pug a precious berth with a 9-6 triumph in the bantamweight semifinals of the AIBA Asian Boxing Olympic Qualifiers in Bangkok , Thailand .

But the Thai star's victory was far from convincing as reports from Bangkok said that Tipon went all out in the final round only to ran out of time in the end with Petchkoom dancing away from trouble.

Tipon's defeat punctuated the failure of the five-man Philippine team to earn a single slot to the Olympics from here.

Featherweight Orlando Tacuyan Jr., whose father is from Bacolod , flyweight Violito Payla, lightweight Genebert Basadre and Adam Fiel lost in their opening-round matches.

But Tipon, who also lost to Petchkoom in the first qualifying tournament – the World Championships in Chicago , and the rest of the RP team can still make the quadrennial games with a good showing in the second and last Asian qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan next month.

Tipon only needs to capture a bronze medal in Kazakhstan for a berth in Beijing .

It would have been different had Tipon piled up the pressure in the first three rounds against Petchkoom. But he didn't. And because of a tentative start, he fell behind, 6-2, at the end of the third round.

Coming out of his corner in the fourth round, Tipon went for broke, shaking the Thai with blistering shots to move in at 5-8. There were two clear shots to the head of Petchkoom that was not scored but it was doubtful if it could have changed the outcome.

Petchkoom, a 2004 Athens Olympics silver medalist, danced away in the final 30 seconds of the bout to secure the win and the Olympic slot.

Reports said Tipon was not exactly complaining but felt he should have won the bout.

“It could have gone either way,” RP coach Pat Gaspi told reporters. “He fell behind and had to do the chasing,” Gaspi explained.

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manny Lopez vowed to “exact revenge in Kazakhstan ”.

Lopez, who sparked a near protest-walkout of his boxers in the Southeast Asian Games boxing finals in Nakhon Ratchasima last December, had predicted there would be wanton cheating in the Tipon-Pethckoom bout.

But he refused to drawn into a debate on whether Tipon was robbed last night.*CPT

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