MANILA SEAG BOXING: PRELUDE TO TOKYO 2020?
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 04 Dec 2019
Boxing is one of the few events in the Southeast Asian Games that is world class competition level.
This is due to the presence of top boxers from traditional regional rivals, Thailand and the Philippines who between them have won a number of medals in the Olympics and world championships over the past several decades, including a few golds and a slew of silvers and bronzes.
In fact and in truth, boxing has been a singular primary source of medals and glory for both countries.
The current boxing competitions in the 30th SEA Games being hosted by the Philippines are no different in terms of level and quality of participants.
With the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics just a few months away, the Manila SEAG boxing competitions, apart from serving as a battle for regional supremacy, could also gauge the readiness of the boxers primarily from the two rival countries for that quadrennial global sports event.
It should be clarified though that entry to the Tokyo Olympic boxing will take an entirely different route, with regional and world qualifying tournaments set for next year, including one to be held in February 2020 in Wuhan, China.
For this Manila SEAG boxing competitions which start Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), the host has entries in all thirteen events, eight for men and five for women.
The host teams are bannered by recent women's world championship featherweight gold medalist Nesthy Petecio, men's world championship middleweight silver medalist and two times SEAG gold medalist Felix Eumir Marcial and previous women's world championship winner Josie Gabuco who will be gunning for her fifth gold in the biennial games.
Petecio will be gunning for her first gold in three SEAG staging, having won silver in two previous tries.
Other members of the host men's teams are Carlo Paalam, Ian Clark Bautista, Charly Suarez, James Palicte, Joel Bacho and Fil British KL SEAG 2017 lightheavyweight gold winner John Tupas Marvin.
On the distaff side, joining Petecio and Gabuco are previous gold winner Irish Magno and medalists Aira Villegas and Rita Pasuit.
Thailand which regained the team championship in the 2017 Kuala Ĺumpur SEAG has the second biggest boxing participants led by Chatchai Butdee and Wuttichai Masuk who won the gold in the bantamweight and welterweight classes in that last games where women's boxing was not included.
Malaysia is led by its past gold winner Mohd Redzhuan who ousted the debuting Carlo Paalam in the quarter finals in the KL Games.
But also bear watching is Vietnam especially its women's squad which powered the country to runner up finish just behind the Philippines and over Thailand in the 2015 Singapore Games.
Drawing of lots had been done at the Savoy Hotel Tuesday afternoon in the presence of all team managers and coaches.
Preliminary and quarter final bouts will be held as scheduled at the Pavillion 2 of the PICC Complex in Pasay City Wednesday afternoon starting at 3 pm for light flyweight, flyweight and bantamweight classes, both for men's and women's.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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