Bacoleño Joan Tipon lifted the spirit of the Philippine contingent in the Asian Olympic Boxing Qualifyng tournament Saturday in Bangkok , Thailand with a win in the bantamweight division against Jordanian Ebraheem Algharageer.

The judges scored the match 13-2 in favor of the 25-year-old boxer from Bacolod City who redeemed himself in the eyes of his followers after a humbling loss in the World Championship bout in Chicago last year against Worapoj Petchkoom of Thailand .

Tipon, who found himself in the limelight of Philippine boxing with a golden finish in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha , Qatar , will have the chance to settle the score against Petchkoom and advance his Olympic bid should he prevail in his second fight against Pakistan 's Ali Mukamamad.

His splendid performance against Algharageer earned a compliment from RP coach Pat Gaspi who said during the post-game interview that the Bacolod boxer executed the plan well.

Tipon's conquest of his Jordanian foe lightened the mood at the RP boxing camp which saw its campaign for slots in the Beijing Olympics slowly disintegrating with the defeats of Violito Payla against Anwar Yunusov of Tajikistan and Olando Tacuyan Jr. against Galiv Jafarov of Kazakhstan .

Payla bowed to Yunusov in a frustrating match that ended at 30-10 while Tacuyan failed to sustain an early lead and succumbed to a 25-18 decision.*NAB

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