Flyweight Godfrey Castro of Cadiz City blew his first chance of gaining the Beijing Olympics on Saturday when he lost to a boxer from Uzbekistan in a semifinal bout clouded by controversy in the Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan.

A press release from the Amateur Boxing Association said Castro, the only remaining Negrense boxer in contention for a slot in Beijing after Joan Tipon was bundled out in the first round, lost --- not on the ring but from dubious scoring.

With all the five judges refusing to give the 24-year-old Castro his points, the Negrense was denied his first chance to make the Olympics, after a 23-25 setback at the hands of Uzbekistan’s G. Donirayov.

The ABAP press release said the Castro-Donirayov fight was one of the decisions that elicited nothing but protests and jeers from the big Kazakh crowd who kept on shouting Castro’s name at the Sports Palace.

“Inilabas ko na ang lahat ng nalalaman ko, pero sorry po ayaw talaga ako ng mga judges (I showed off everything that I knew, but sorry, the judges did not want me to win),” a teary-eyed Castro, a last-minute replacement for the injured Violito Payla, said.

“Meron pa akong pag-asa bukas sa box-off pero dapat sana nakuha ko na ngayon pa lang (I still have a chance tomorrow in the box-off but I should have gotten the slot in Beijing now),” added Castro, a bronze medalist in the Doha Asian Games in 2006.

Standing in the way of Castro’s Olympic dream is Indian Kumar Jintender, who retired in the third round of his semifinals date with Kazakhstan’s Mirat Sarsembayev.

The winner will claim the third and last Olympic berth offered in the 51 kilos category.

The press release said the Uzbek scored four straight points for glancing blows right after the first bell. And when the usually slow-starting Castro started to connect, the Uzbek was given back a point every time the Negrense scored.

The Uzbek actually got knocked down twice after running smack into Castro’s right but the referee ruled a slip on both occasions.

And when Castro moved in, 22-23 with only a minute left, the Uzbek called a timeout for the adjustment of his headgear --- his third in the four-round bout – and the lull give his corner time to give instructions.

After the timeout, the Uzbek went into a clinch and then threw left and right while breaking out of the clinch, a ploy that gave the judges the chance to award him with two precious points.

ABAP president Manny Lopez said his request of not having the Englishman referee during Tipon’s loss was granted. To his shock, however, the Englishman, who docked a total of four points on Tipon, acted as one of the judges in the Castro fight..

“Anyway, it is not over yet and we must unite for this one last push of Castro,” Lopez said.

Meanwhile, lightweight Genebert Basadre, was outclassed by Kazakhstan’s Merey Akshalov, who cruised to a comfortable 24-4 lead in the third round for an RSC-OS (Referee Stopped Contest-Outscored) win.

Featherweight bet Orlando Tacuyan Jr., whose father hails from Bacolod City, also kissed his Olympic hopes goodbye when he lost to Kim Won Guk of North Korea not on the ring but through the scoring by the judges, who refused to score his hits in the third round.*CPT

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