3-class champ Tanaka’s brother wins Olympic 52kg bronze medal

By Joe Koizumi

Aggressive Japanese southpaw Ryomei Tanaka won the bronze medal in the 52-kilogram class of the Olympic Games on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan. Ryomei, a 27-year-old elder brother of formerly three-division WBO champ Kosei Tanaka, had defeated three ex-medalists of Yoel Finol, Jianguan Hu and Yuberjen Martinez in the previous contests. Tanaka, however, lost to Carlo Paalam, a faster Filipino, by a unanimous decision (30-27 four times, 29-28, all for Paalam) over three hard-fought rounds in the semi-final. Ryomei, who changed his usual outboxing to free-swinging like his brother Kosei, threw stronger southpaw lefts, but Paalam connected well with right counters to the willing mixer, scoring good points. In the tough category with many strong participants it is remarkable that the underdog Ryomei could seize the bronze medal. It was the second time since Kiyoshi Tanabe in the Rome Games in 1960 that a Japanese flyweight won the bronze medal. Ryomei, a teacher of his alma mater Chukyo High School, didn’t turn professional like Kosei, but stayed in the amateur and kept on pursuing the Olympic medal. His dream came true.

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