PHL AMATEUR BOXING TEAM TO JOIN ASIAN ELITE CHAMPIONSHIP
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 29 Jun 2013
MANILA (PNA) -- The road to the country?s first ever Olympic gold medal continues as a young, five-man Philippine boxing team leaves Sunday to take part in the Asian Elite Championships July 1-9 in Amman in Jordan.
Fresh from a triumphant campaign in the recent Third China Open box-off held in Guiyang Province June 16-22 where a seven-boxer national delegation went home with a gold medal, a pair of silver medals and a bronze, the Association of Boxing Alliance of the Philippines is sending a team composed of battle-scarred Rey Saludar and Junel Cantancio and three other neophytes to the prestigious competition.
Head coach Pat Gaspi announced in yesterday?s SCOOP Sa Kamayan sesssion that completing the five-man lineup are 16-year-old Rogen Ladon, 19-year-old Mario Fernandez and Joel Bacho, also 19, as part of his association?s preparation for this year?s 27th Southeast Asian Games, next year?s Asian Games and up to the Olympic Games three years from now.
?We are sending a relatively young team in the Asian Championships, precisely, to prepare for the coming SEA Games, but most importantly, for the bigger assignments like the Asian Games next year and the Olympic Games in 2016,? Gaspi, who came to the session along with national coaches, Roel Velasco, Arlo Chavez and Elias Recaido, said.
?Actually, hindi naman masyadong baguhan ang miyembro ng team. Nandyan pa rin ang mga beteranaong sina Rey (Saludar) and Junel (Cantancio),? Gaspi said. ?Balanse ang team natin para naman makasiguro na may maiuuwi tayong medalya.?
Of the three youngsters, only Ladon, flyweight, had seen action in a pair of international competitions, while Fernandez, bantamweight and Bacho, light-welterweight, represented the country in international arena only once each.
The 25-year-old Saludar, fighting out of Polomok in South Cotabato, has, so far carried the country?s colors in no less than 10 international tournaments, bringing home three gold medals, one in the Asian Games three years ago in Guangzhou, China, one in the Tammer Cup in Finland, also in 2010 and another in the San Francisco Invitational in California.
Cantancio, the 27-year-old nephew of Olympian and many-time Asian Gamer Leopoldo Cantancio, has seen action in an International Dual Match with Sri Lanka and the Asean championships where he both took home a gold medal each. He also won a silver medal in the China Open in Guiyang. Also present in yesterday?s SCOOP session held at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura were China Open gold medalist Nesty Petecio, silver medalist and reigning world champion Josie Gabuco and bronze medal winner, London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga.
No less than 10 more international exposures, according to Gaspi and his fellow coaches, await members of the national pool, including the tough International Boxing Federation (AIBA) world boxing championships for men and women set October in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
?Basta sinisiguro namin na bawat puntahan nating international competition ay handang-handa ang mga bata natin,? Chavez projected.
?Hindi naman nagpapabaya ang ABAP leadership, sa pangunguna ng aming presidente, Ricky Vargas, at chairman Manny Pangilinan para mabigyan ang ating mga boxer ng kinakailangang international exposure sa ating layong manalo ng kaunaunahang gold medal sa Olympic Games,? Velasco, a bronze medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, said.
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