CHARLIE SUAREZ of the RP-Alaxan FR team won a bronze medal in the recent Asian Cadet Boxing Championships 2004 at the Hanoi Indoor Stadium in Vietnam.
The 16-year-old Suarez, a prized find from Davao del Norte, lost by one point in the semifinals against Karim Djumailov of Kazakhstan to settle for third place in the light flyweight division.
Suarez emerged as the only medallist in the three-man squad, sent to the tournament for boxers aged 15 to 17 years by Pacific Heights and coached by Olympian Leopoldo Cantancio.
The two other boxers, flyweight Orlando Tacuyan and bantamweight Rolando Omila, failed in their separate bids.
Omila was barred from participating in the event, being weeks older than the prescribed 17 years limit in this event initially limited to boxers aged 15 to 18 years, while Tacuyan lost in the second round on points.
Boxers from 13 of the 17 countries represented made it to the medal rounds, where Kazakhstan boxers made a clean sweep of their assignments for a perfect 13-medal haul.
India and Korea had nine each while host Vietnam bagged seven spots. The Kazakhs went on to capture eight golds, one silver and four bronzes for the team championship followed by India with two golds, two silvers and five bronzes. Korea wound up third with a 1-5-3 slate.
A total of 105 boxers saw action in the event, which featured 13 weight divisions.
— Frank Calapre, Correspondent