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Published on December 14, 2007

 The hosts established their supremacy after their male fighters made a clean sweep of the 10 gold medals, to take their tally of gold in boxing to 16 from 17.

However, the Filipinos' dissent over what they deemed as unfair officiating took some shine off the Thai team's monumental achievement.

Thailand and the Philippines are regarded as the region's boxing powerhouses and the two have developed an intense rivalry in the regional sporting event.

The fact that Thais and Filipinos clashed in 13 of the 17 finals in both the men's and women's competition this year only reflected the hegemony the two nations enjoy.

The hosts created a piece of history by featuring in all the showdown fights.

The Philippines' dissatisfaction over the outcome in the women's category on Wednesday, where they could win only a single gold medal despite figuring in six finals was blamed to be a main cause for the act that would certainly tarnish the image of the sport.

Filipino boxers Godfrey Castro and Junel Cantancio's controversial decision not to fight despite getting in the ring in the flyweight and bantamweight finals caused a delay.

After talks between International Boxing Association (AIBA) president Ching-Kuo Wu and the representatives of the Philippines amateur boxing association, the bouts resumed.

Although the team consented to fight, their fighters pulled out in the remaining five finals.

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president Manuel Lopez denied a report that the controversial decision to withdraw was an order from the high-level official.

"It's the decision by the team. The result in the women's competition discouraged them to fight. It was a reasonable decision considering from what they had received," Lopez said. "When we held the tournament two years ago, Thailand won six gold medals.

This time we got only one medal."

Philippines chief de mission Monico Puentevella believed it was time to improve the officiating standards.

"We've a new AIBA president. He had promised changes to improve the sport. We trusted in him and believed him. However, the old things continue to happen.

"I don't blame Thailand as they did their best as the hosts. Congratulations to them. What happened was down to poor officiating. We need reform to improve the officiating standard.

"The Games cherished the athletes' spirit, sportsmanship and friendship. But, the referees destroyed such concept.

"I think the Filipinos could understand our action as we tried to send the message that we were not happy with the referee. We need to stand up not step back on such injustice,"  Puentevella said.

Kitinan Sanguansak

 The Nation

Nakhon Ratchasima