Baku, Azerbaijan- The Philippines had wanted to get slots for the London Olympics at the AIBA World Boxing Championships here by winning medals, but the results from the round of 16 have taken away that option.
The PLDT-ABAP team will have to rely on fate to decide whether two available slots will come their way or not.
Both light-flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga and flyweight Rey Saludar lost their bids to land in the quarterfinals in the tournament which would have automatically earned for them a booking for the 2012 Olympiad.
The pint=sized Barriga took on the highly-touted Zou Shiming of China, 2-time world champion and Beijing Olympics gold medalist. At 18, Barriga gave up a lot in experience (not to mention height and reach) against the 30-year old veteran and it showed as the multi-titled Chinese prevailed, 12-5.
\"He outsmarted me. He\'s really good, very elusive and clever\", said Barriga. \"But if I get another chance, I\'ll be better prepared for him next time,\" he pledged.
Saludar however, was the aggressor in the fight against Rau\'Shee Warren of the United States. He also threw the more solid blows but the judges saw it differently and awarded the fight to the two-time American Olympian who is seeded 4th in the tournament.
Saludar drew blood from Warren\'s nose in the second round which he banged with a wicked straight. The referee had to stop the fight a couple of times in the second and third rounds to wipe the blood off Warren\'s nose.
Warren started off cocky, prancing around in Mayweartheresque fashion, using a lot of hand speed, the way he disposed of a Ukrainian boxer the day before. But he got on the wrong end of a power left hook by the Philippine Army man right in the first round that immediately made him take a more serious attitude.
He engaged the Filipino in exchanges hoping that the latter would back off. But Saludar took the challenge and the Philippine delegation thought he got the better of it. The scores however, were way off their estimation: 7-2 in the first, 16-8 in the second and finally, 22-12 all for Warren.
Delegation head Ed Picson said \"it was exasperating. There were more than a dozen Filipino expats who came to watch the fight and asked us to explain the lopsided scores, I couldn\'t. At worst I thought it was close. But this is sport and we have to accept the decision. if there had been a major anomaly, the jury would have overturned the decision.\"
All is not lost for the country\'s Olympic dreams, however. There will be 10 qualifiers in each category from this competition (except in the heavyweight and super-heavyweight; they get 6 each) . The eight quarter-finalists make up the bulk, while two slots go to the round of 16 losers to the eventual gold and silver medalists. Thus, if Zou and Warren enter the finals of the competition, Barriga and Saludar also book a ticket to London.
There will also be the Asian qualifiers in Kazakhstan next year where the Philippines can get slots. The number of qualifiers will depend on how many would be left of the Asian quota of 54 after the tournament here.
Blog
ABAP ACTIVITIES BACKED BY PLDT
by Ed Picson
November 9, 2010
The second half of the year 2010 saw a plethora of activities in the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines, as continuation of the Road to Asian Games program drafted by ABAP President Ricky Vargas.
With the able backing of PLDT, our boxers and coaches embarked on a series of tournaments and training camps aimed at increasing our chances of a medal haul in the coming Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Last July, as part of the celebration of ABAP Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan\'s birthday, the MVP International Friendship Cup was launched where 6 international teams were invited. These were from China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Macau, Hongkong and Chinese-Taipei. The tournament was held at the PICC Forum.
On hand to witness the opening were local and international luminaries including the president of the AIBA (International Boxing Association) himself, Dr. Ching-Kuo-Wu and the president of the Asina Boxing Confederaiton, Mr. Chang Jianping. This underscored the importance given by international organizations to Philippine amateur boxing.
The well-attended competition which was held July 14-18,2010 was acclaimed for its organizational competence, and especially for the level playing field. The ABC itself took care of inviting neutral referees and judges.
Still, the Philippines dominated the competition by winning 8 gold medals courtesy of 5 women-Annie Albania (flyweight), Alice Kate Aparri (light-flyweight), Nesthy Petecio (featherweight)and Ana Lisa Cruz (bantamweight). 3 male boxers also had golden contributions- featherweight Charly Suarez, lightweight Joegin Ladon and light-welterweight Delfin Boholst.
The following month 11 boxers and 4 coaches travelled to the United States for training and pocket tournaments. The delegation went on camps at the University of San Francisco and the Undisputed Boxing Gym in San Carlos City. They also ruled pocket tournaments arranged by the USF and the Kennel Boxing Gym in San Leandro.
They then drove down to Los Angeles where they joined the highly-competitive Blue and Gold Tournament in Maywood which has been a regularly-awaited amateur boxing event for the past 20 years. The Philippine boxing team again stamped its mark by getting gold medal finishes from Suarez, Boholst, Rey Saludar and Josie Gabuco. Suarez was also adjudged best boxer of the tournament. Albania, Petecio and Aparri did not compete although they were part of the US training camps as they were heading straight for Bridgetown, Barbados for the World Women\'s Championships.
From the US, the three aforementioned women boxers went to the World Championships September 6 to 19, where Aparri copped the bronze medal in a tough field with 74 countries represented and 273 boxers competing. Petecio was one fight shy of landing a medal after beating boxers from El Salvador and highly-favored China only to bow to powerful Russian fighter. Albania uncharacteristically bowed out in her first bout vs. Turkey.
October found four boxers trekking to Tampere, Finland for the 25th staging of the Tammer Cup which counts as alumni such names as Mike Tyson and Oscar de la Hoya. All four reached the finals with the Saludar brothers- Victorio and Rey coming home with golds and Charly Suarez and Delfin Boholst with silvers.
Nov 1-3 found ABAP president Ricky Vargas, Secretary-General Patrick Gregorio and Executive Director making the long journey to Almaty, Kazakhstan for the quadrennial World Boxing Congress. Vargas and company participated actively in the congress as well as the ASBC General Assembly that followed. The team got kudos from many countries for their valuable inputs.
This November is the big one- the Asian Games sin Guangzhou. Six boxers from the ABAP are being looked at as the richest source of medals for the Philippine campaign. The boxing nationals are Charly Suarez, Annie Albania, the Saludar brothers, Delfin Boholst and Wilfredo Lopez.
While the competition is bound to be top-rate and it will be hard to make predications much less promises, this is a well-trained, well-prepared team. In the last week of preparations, we have invited long-time American coach Joe Clough, who is now based in Dumaguete to come to Manila to evaluate and fine-tune our training. He has been an Olympic coach (National Coach of the Year in the US in 1972) who has trained American, Thai, Malaysian and Filipino national boxers for more than 40 years.
ABAP, PLDT and our boxers and coaches have done everything it can to ensure a competitive team for Guangzhou. We hope everyone else does his share. Prayers, good wishes, a reassuring word. Anything is welcome so long as its from the heart.
Mabuhay!
