Pacquiao to Welcome WBC Convention Participants
By Marlon Bernardino
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 03 Nov 2007
MANILA, PHILIPPINES -- MANNY Pacquiao, arguably the best fighter the Philippines has produced in modern times, will welcome participants to the 45th World Boxing Council (WBC) Convention set Nov. 11-17 at the Manila Hotel.
Pacquiao will make a rare appearance before the who's who of the WBC, which will include no less than WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, who is scheduled to arrive in the country on Thursday to lead the WBC pre-convention activities along with Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Eric Buhain.
Pacquiao, conqueror of great Mexican champions Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera, will be a welcome inclusion in the big Philippine delegation, which will also include referees, judges, managers and trainers.
Some of them will be joining activities, including pre-convention schedules which were approved by Sulaiman himself.
"Professional boxing with a heart," is what Buhain called the pre-convention activities, which will include visits to charitable institutions and similar projects, prior to the actual start of the conference which expects to gather more than 600 foreign delegates as well as 400 local representatives.
"Aside from creating local and international heroes, professional boxing could also become an effective tool in instilling awareness to people, especially on charitable projects," Buhain, a former swimming star, Olympian and chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), said.
Buhain will lead the small entourage of government officials to welcome Sulaiman, who will then join them in visits to the wards of Philippine General Hospital in Manila and the orphanage put up by New Zealand boxing referee Bruce Mctavish for the street children of Angeles, Pampanga.
The 27th Lancers Drum & Bugle Corps of the City of Makati will play the tune "We are the world," which will become the official song of the convention. The group will also play during the parade of flags of the nations and the march of the presidents of the nine affiliated continental federations.
Marching with Buhain are Asian Boxing Council (ABCO) Kovid Bhakdibhumi of Thailand; Houcine Houichi of Tunisia for the African Boxing Union (ABU); Charles Giles of England for the British Boxing Board of Control; Roy Van Putten of Aruba for the Caribbean Boxing Federation (Cabofe); Edmund Lipinski of Russia for the - Aruba ? Roy Van Putten CIS & Slovenia Boxing Bureau (CISBB); Wenceslao Mayorga of Nicaragua for the Central American Boxing Federation (Fecarbox); Bob Logist of Belgium for the European Boxing Union; Rex Walker of the US for the North American Boxing Federation ? USA; Frank Quill of Australia for the Oriental & Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF); and Osvaldo Bisbal of Argentina for the South American Boxing Federation (Fesubox).
Sulaiman makes a grand entrance after them and a special award awaits President Arroyo, who is also the guest of honor of the event.
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