QUO VADIS, ABAP?
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 16 Aug 2008
The generation that witnessed Anthony Villanueva being robbed of a gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics is aging now. Many have passed away. The generation that saw Onyok Velasco?s Robbery in Atlanta have been waiting for twelve years for pay back.
We are still waiting. Will we see it in our lifetime?
How long has it been since the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) launched it?s Go for Gold Program?
It did start on a high note. I remember Roberto Jalnaiz scoring a dramatic knockout win the finals of the 1990 Asiad. I remember we won the overall boxing championship when we hosted the SEA Games in 1991. That team boasted the likes of Jalnaiz, the Vicera?s and the Velasco brothers, Roel and Onyok. Our boxers began to win in international tournaments. The 1992 Olympiad saw Roel Velasco snatch a bronze.
I could smell an Olympic gold medal every time I watched Onyok Velasco on television five years before that tragic larceny.
In 1994, our boxers ? Velasco, Elias Recaido and Reynaldo Galido ? scored 3 for 3 in the finals of the 1994 Asian Games. 1996 was supposed to be the year ? every Pinoy fight fan gets nauseated reminiscing about it. The world governing body for amateur boxing ? AIBA ? is worse than the Mafia.
Things went downhill after that. Disaster on top of disaster with the gradual but obvious deterioration of the boxers? performances at the SEA games, Asian championships and of course at the world level. The 2000 and 2004 Olympics were a total fiasco for boxing. In between and after that were a series of walkouts and protests about spotty officiating at the SEA Games level. But blind and cross-eyed judging and favoritism can be found at the national level as well.
The 2005 SEA Games success, two boxing golds during the 2006 Doha Asian Games, and Harry Tanamor?s silver during the 2007 World Championship were supposed to signal an ABAP renaissance. But our boxers? performance during the qualifying tournaments was once again futile.
This is not about lack of talent. There is an ongoing boxing boom in the country courtesy of Manny Pacquiao. Talented eight year olds are not that hard to find even during the 1980?s and 90?s. And these kids seldom shift to basketball. There is still Tae Kwon Do to look forward to. But boxing remains close to our hearts. If a country?s success at the Olympic level depends on its economy, political stability and ideology, then we have scored zero for three in these areas.
But the question needs to be asked ? where is the ABAP going? Where do they plan to take amateur boxing now? Will this go the way of our basketball program? Would this be a good time to change course?
Anthony Villanueva is still waiting. Onyok Velsaco is still waiting. Eighty million souls in our archipelago are still waiting.
Top photo: Harry Tanamor of the Philippines (R) fights Manyo Plange of Ghana during their men's light flyweight (48kg) round of 32 boxing match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 13, 2008. Tanamor lost to Plange, 6-3. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won (CHINA)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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