IOC cancels boxing qualifiers
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 20 Feb 2021
There will be no more world Olympic boxing qualifying tournament in Paris as the IOC Task Force decided the other day to cancel the event which was slated on May 13-20 and reset to June due to the pandemic but it’s possible that two slots for the Philippines may open up because of the ranking system.
IOC Task Force for Boxing chairman Morinari Watanabe and IOC head of NOC (National Olympic Committee) Engagement Lenny Abbey presided in a video conference to announce the cancellation. Nearly 40 Asian boxing federations attended with ABAP secretary-general Ed Picson representing the Philippines. The Task Force also announced that it will update the qualification system by the end of this month and reconfirm the allocated quotas for Africa, Asia and Oceania in March.
Without the world qualifiers, slots will be awarded to the highest-ranked available boxers from Asia and other continents. In men’s flyweight, Cagayan de Oro’s Carlo Paalam is the highest-ranked Asian at No. 12 after those who’ve qualified. In women’s featherweight, Davao del Sur’s Nesthy Petecio is No. 5 and the highest-ranked Asian still to qualify. In men’s featherweight, Negros Occidental’s Ian Clark Bautista is No. 17 but there are two Asians ahead in line for qualification, No. 7 Erdenebat Tsendbaatar of Mongolia and No. 14 Kavinder Bisht of India. In men’s lightheavyweight, Fil-British John Marvin is No. 19 but No. 6 Dilshodbek Ruzmetov of Uzbekistan is the top Asian candidate to advance. So far, the Philippines has qualified Eumir Marcial in men’s middleweight and Irish Magno in women’s flyweight.
Picson said he has reviewed the rankings but isn’t yet confirming if Paalam and Petecio will go to Tokyo. “While we think our calculations are logical, the Task Force will announce the updated qualification system by end of this month and reconfirm the allocated quotas for Africa, Asia and Oceania,” he said. “So whatever anyone says now on who’s in or who’s out would be speculation.” Picson said ABAP will pursue plans of sending 11 to 12 boxers to training camp in Thailand on Feb. 22. It will be preparation for the Olympics and the Vietnam SEA Games late this year.
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