ABAP PRESIDENT VARGAS APPEALS TO DEFENSE SECRETARY GAZMIN TO RELEASE BOXERS, COACHES FOR OLYMPIC QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Jul 2015
Vargas.
The president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, Ricky Vargas, has appealed to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to "please allow the boxers and their respective coaches to be allowed to go back to our training center" to resume their preparation for he Olympic qualifying tournaments.
Vargas pointed out that after a successful stint in the Southeast ASian Games in which the boxing team emerged champions with a haul of 5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals they had started to prepare for the various qualification tournaments in the quest for slots in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
However, the boxers and coaches who are in the military were recalled after their Detailed Service lapsed on June 20.
In seeking the assistance of Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia and Philippine Olympic C ommittee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco, Vargas said "the absence of our boxers in training for over two weeks now is a big setback" even as he pointed out that the PSC is the agencyin charge of this issue.
POC president Cojuangco acted swiftly and personally endorsed the ABAP concerns for which Vargas expressed gratitude for the help of the POC.
Vargas told Gazmin "as you probably realize, boxers need more than two months of training to compete in the qualifying tournaments" the first phase of which begins in Bangkok, Thailand on August 25 which is just over a month away.
The ABAP president appealed to secretary Gazmin to allow the boxers and trainers to return to begin training for the Olympic qualifiers.
Among the boxers listed were London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga, Junel Cantancio, Felix Marcial,Mario Fernandez, Den nis Galvan and Nico Magliquion of the Philippine Air Force, Joegen Ladon of the Navy and Rey Saludar and Wilfredo Lopez of the Philippine Army along with the coaches in the national pool led by Head Coach Pat Gaspi and coaches Rona;d Chavez, Harry Tanamor, Romeo Brin, Violito Payla Elmer Pamisa and Gerson Nietes.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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