ALBANIA LEADS R.P. WOMEN?S BOXING GOLD HAUL
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 17 Dec 2009
Filipina boxing sensation Annie Albania stopped Indonesian Indri Sambaimana in the second round to successfully retain her title in the 15th Southeast Asian Games in Vientiane. She was just too much and too classy against Sambaimana, outscoring the Indon, 6-0, in a referee-stopped contest during the final of the 51kg. class.
Albania, the lone boxing gold medalist in the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand and silver medalist in the 2008 world championships, was pummelling the Indon girl at will that forced the referee to stopped the fight twice in the opening round for a pair of mandatory standing eight counts.
She almost dropped Sambaimana in the next round for another eight-count, prompting the ring official to stop the annihilation.
?We?re very happy because we scored 3-of-4 in women?s boxing. It?s very heartwarming because all of the sacrifices of the girls paved off,? said Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson.
Other gold winning members of the women?s team are pinweight Josie Gabuco and light-fly Alice Kate Appari. The 22-year old Gabuco, a first-timer in the biennial conclave abut already a winner of a bronze medal in the 2008 World Women?s Boxing Championships in China, set off the team?s campaign on a high note, engaging Nguyen Thi Hoa of Vietnam in a virtual brawl in the final of the 46 kg. class and emerging out triumphant, 6-5.
?Para po sa bayan natin ito,? said Gabuco, who was reduced to tears shortly after winning the hardly-fought match and just when the national anthem was about to be played. ?Masayang-masaya po ako na manalo ng unang gold dito sa SEA Games.?
Aparri 25, who like Albania is a veteran SEA Games campaigner being a silver medalist in 2007, didn?t disappoint either. The bronze medal winner in the World Boxing Championships (2008 India) outclassed and bloodied local bet Milvady, 15-4, to rule the 48 kg. division.
The four-boxer national women?s boxing squad actually scored a perfect four-for-four medal show counting lightweight Mitchell Martinez?s bronze medal in the 60-kg. level.
With ABAP president Ricky Vargas and secretary-general Patrick Gregorio joining vice-president Manny Lopez at ringside, all three winners had been assured each of P300,000 incentive pledged by ABAP chairman and Smart Communications head Manny V. Pangilinan. The cash windfall is apart from the P300,000 bonus dangled by Philippine Sports Commission chair Harry Angping to all gold medallists here.
?There?s more work to do. We just hope our men?s team would be able to do the same thing our women team did,? Picson said.
Vying for the men?s gold Thursday are pinweight Bill Vicera, light-flyweight Harry Tanamor and featherweight Charly Suarez. Vicera climbs the ring against Lao bet Sikham, Tanamor takes on a tough Thai customer in Kaeo Prongprayoon and Suarez battles Cambodian Phal Sophat.
(Eddie Alinea?s articles also appear in the Philippine Gazette)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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