Paalam’s victory gives Oro residents break from Covid-19 woes

By Lynde Salgados
Correspondent

IT took boxer Carlo Paalam, a former scavenger and Cagayan de Oro’s adopted son from Talakag, Bukidnon, to knock out – at least, for now – public anxiety in this city over surging Covid-19 cases.

Paalam will face the Japanese home bet, Ryomei Tanaka, in the semifinal tomorrow at 1:30 pm, Philippine time.

For over 12 minutes on Tuesday morning, people in this city – and many other Filipinos – momentarily forgot their Covid-19 worries as they watched the 23-year-old Paalam punch his way to victory against Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov in the men's boxing flyweight category of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

As Paalam knelt and then broke down after the split decision, the Cagayan de Oro City Hall, which has been preoccupied with the rise in Covid-19-cases in the city, exploded with joy over Paalam's assured podium finish.

“It was quite refreshing for us and all the frontliners in the fight against Covid-19 to stop for a while and cheer for our local hero. I think that Carlo can take on the Japanese he would face during the semifinals,” said city sports consultant Douglas “Rocky” Calingin.

City sports coordinator Jaymar Rivera also described the atmosphere in city hall: “Sadya bibo kaayo mi dire City Hall. Ang mayor (Oscar Moreno) nga No.1 supporter ni Carlo maong gipalandong gyod siya sa LGU sports program sa Cagayan de Oro perting lipaya.”

“Ang parents pud ni Carlo nga naa nagpuyo karon sa Upper Carmen nagmaya uban sa pamilya ug mga silingan. Ilang ka pobrehon salig lang sa uma-uma kaniadto matambalan na gyod,” added Rivera.

“Paalam’s road to boxing greatness in the Olympics is a testament that a viable and well-hatched local sports program for boxing is indeed effective,” he said.

Moreno said Paalam’s victory encouraged the local government to pursue its sports program and inspired officials to “look for more talents who are left in the corner and still waiting to be discovered and developed.”

Sally John Nelg, a former basketball standout at Liceo de Cagayan University, said Paalam’s feat in Tokyo showed the importance of a well-meaning grassroots sports, noting that the boxer is a product of city hall’s Boxing at the Park in downtown Divisoria, Cagayan de Oro.

Ruel Densing of the Cagayan de Oro City Boxing Program said Paalam’s former coach, Elmer Pamisa, should be credited too “kay siya gyod ang nakadiskobre ug nag-develop kang Carlo.”

“Sa una, mosugot lang softdrinks ang award after every ordinary fight sa kalye-kalye pa nga ensayo,” Densing recalled.