Mark Barriga's Olympic Journey

(Photo by Murad Sezer, Reuters)

The evening of July 31 (Philippine time) marks the first step of lone Filipino boxer Mark Anthony Barriga in his quest for glory in the 2012 London Olympic.

The hope of the country where the best pound-for-pound boxer lives rest on the shoulder of this 19-year old fighter who seeks to accomplished what no Pinoy athlete has ever reached--- the elusive Olympic Gold medal.

Fighting in front of a full-house crowd that included his parents Edgar and Melita who flew in to London with the help of Procter and Gamble, Mark connected with a flurry of shots in the opening round, landing a solid straight in the last seven seconds that prompted a standing 8-count against the much taller Italian slugger Manuel Cappai. He continued his dominance en route to a 17-7 win.

Mark stepped on the ring once again on the evening of August 4 (Philippine time) to slug it out againts Birshan Zhakypov of Kazakhstan for the right to enter the Round of 8.

The young Pinoy boxer gave his all and led the match 10-8 entering the 3rd round.  But the table turns against the Philippine side when Barriga was penalized twice within the final salvo thus deducting 2 points from the judges score card.  The damage was so huge that he end up losing the bout in a close 16-17 decision.

Mark may have love his quest for gold this time but with more training and patience to achieve his dream, who knows, 2016 might be the right time for him to get another crack for glory and finally win the top prize for his country.