TANAMOR AND COMPANY TARGET 4 GOLDS
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 10 Dec 2009
With a battle-scarred duo Harry Tanamor and Joan Tipon at the forefront of campaign in the men?s division and Mitchel Martinez and Annie Albania in the distaff side, the Philippine boxing team aims to win at least four gold medals when competition in this sport of sweet science unfurls tomorrow in the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane, Laos.
This figure, according to former Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines president and now vice president Manny Lopez, is realistic for the 10-man (six men and four women) squad which will plunge into action at the Olympasia gymnasium in the Laotian capital city, hub of action in the biennial conclave.
Tanamor, 32, and the most experienced in the team having been a member of all national squad since 2003 and winner of no less than six gold medals while carrying the country?s colours in the different boxing arenas in the world, is, no doubt favoured to rule the 48-kilogram (light-flyweight) division.
Among the highest winnings of this Zamboanga City-based simonpure are a pair of gold medals from the World Cup in Moscow only a year ago and from the Tammer Cup championships in Tampere, Finland in 2005.
?Sabi nila hindi na daw ako dapat kumatawan sa bansa dahil matanda na. Eh kaso kumu-qualify pa so dapat lamang. Ito naman any ginagawa lang natin para sa bayan at hindi lamang sa akin,? Tanamor lamented by way of reacting to comments that he is already a re-cycled boxer.
The 27-year-old Tipon, fighting out of Bacolod City, has travelled far and wide as a national fighter since five years ago gifting the country, matching Tanamor?s six-gold medal harvest in the international arena, including crowning himself the bantamweight champion in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Also in the men?s team are national team sophomore, flyweight Rey Saludar, featherweight Charlie Suarez, who reached the quarterfinal round of last year?s World Cup, and lightweight Joegin Ladon, all of whom had, at one time or another made their marks in the world?s boxing capitals.
Martinez, a former Asian champion and Albania, like Tanamor and Tipon, will carry the load of the country?s campaign in the women?s division.
Martinez, 33, who became the first Filipina to win an Asian championship, a feat she did in 2001 and repeated two years later, should quench her hunger for the gold in the biennial conclave where she could only manage a bronze in Manila in 2005 and silver two years ago in Thailand.
?Dapat na Sir, medyo hindi na tayo bumabata at kailangan naman na manalo dito sa SEA Games,? she said shortly before the national delegation left for Laos.
Albania, of course, rose to prominence when she emerged the only gold medalist in boxing two years ago, a feat she fashioned out by knocking out Thai opponent Hansah Kadeewong although her gold medal performance in the recent Asian Indoor Games that made her the odds on pick to rule th4e flyweight class.
No less than Manny Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach was impressed with this Banga, South Cotabato campaigner?s style of fighting that he said Albania has what it takes to end the country?s Olympic gold medal draught.
Other members of the women?s team are pinweight Josie Gabuco and light-fly Alice Kate Appari, who is out to transform her silver medal show in Thailand to gold.
?Masaya na kami kung maka-tatlo o apat na gold medals,? said Lopez, the current Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) vice-president. ?Bonus na sa amin kung makalagpas pa roon.?
Again, region powerhouse Thailand stands in the way of the Filipino boxers? bid to regain lost glory in the aftermath of the protest they did in the finals of the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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