Boxing optimistic for SEAG

BOXING is one sport we, Filipinos, have definitely proven that we can compete at the world level.
I can even cite the performance of our professional boxers like Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, among others, to show that this is one sport where we stand a good chance of eventually winning an Olympic gold.

Anthony Villanueva came closest in 1964 when he went home with a silver medal in what was supposedly a bum decision at that time, while very recently, featherweight Nesthy Petecio struck gold in the recent Women’s World Boxing Championships in Russia.
Middleweight Eumir Marcial, a two-time SEA Games gold medal winner, settled for a silver in an earlier competition in the men’s side.

Both Petecio and Marcial are included in the Philippine team to the 2019 SEA Games which the country is hosting from November 30 to December 11 this year.
Also joining the team is the comebacking Charly Suarez, a two-time Olympian, who at 31 years old still packs enough wallop and should give a good account of himself.
Fil-Brit light heavyweight John Marvin, and other veterans flyweight Roger Ladon, light flyweight Carlo Paalam, Light welterweight James Palicte, bantamweight Ian Clark Bautista, and the other female on the team, also a grizzled veteran Irish Magno complete the SEAG lineup.

I chanced upon ABAP sec-gen Ed Picson at the recent press launch of the Milo tie up with POC and PSC at the Conrad Hotel. We were on the same table actually with Mon Fernandez, at least before he joined the guests in the presidential table, EJ Obiena and his mom, and the Jorge couple, Nic and Marlyn, from BEST Center.

Ed did not want to make any definite prediction so I did not press him to give a definitive answer but he sure gave me an idea when he said he is confident that the team will surpass the 2017 SEA Games medal haul of two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
That was certainly a performance that fell short of expectations then because two years earlier in 2015, our boxers went home with five gold medals.

No wonder ABAP is pulling out all stops in the preparation of its boxers for the SEA Games, more so that they will be performing right before the eyes of local fans and again, expectations will be high for boxing.
And with the expectations will come the pressure on the NSA to deliver.

But my talk with Ed went beyond the SEAG as I also asked him the chances of our boxers qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and he said there are only two opportunities left for our boxers to qualify, the first one being the Asia Oceania Continental Championships in Hunan, China in February next year and the World Championships in May in Paris, France.

The gold performance of Petecio at the recent AIBA-organized world championships unfortunately does not count because AIBA has been under suspension by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after an investigation on alleged corruption in that international federation that it has resulted to IOC taking charge of the boxing event in the Olympics, according to Ed.

And with the number of boxers needed at the Olympics, 286, said Ed, there is a chance that in some divisions, the qualifiers can even stretch all the way to 4th placers or semifinalists but he is not sure of where the IOC will apply this, whether in the Continental Championships or in the World Championships that IOC will undertake prior to the Olympic Games.

Wherever it may be, ABAP will ensure our boxers come prepared as early next year, it will send 16 boxers on the national team and the training pool to Queensland in Australia for a three-week training program. The truth for me is that ABAP is an NSA that knows what it is doing and fortunately, funding is not a problem for them because of the support from the MVP group.

Good luck guys and gals.