MAASIN CITY OPEN BOXING FOR THE BENEFIT OF YOLANDA VICTIMS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 10 Dec 2013
With the indefinite postponement of Idol Boxing Series Part II, Maasin City will host an open boxing inviting places in Eastern Visayas which was hit by super typhoon Yolanda. The purpose of the boxing matches is to help boxers in these areas to earn a corresponding prize so that they can purchase goods to be brought back to their typhoon-stricken place.
Referees and judges for Tacloban and other parts of Leyte will also be allowed to officiate so that they can earn officiating honoraria. With these they can buy stuff in Maasin and bring them home to the devastated cities and towns.
National referee Nelson Factoranan lived in San Jose, Tacloban City, the most destructed part of the regional capital. He said he stayed at the ceiling attic of their residence when the storm surge already flooded the second floor of their house during the climax of the hurricane.
"I'm still alive!" These were the words the national referee trumpeted the first time he was contacted by the Maasin City Sports Council by mobile phone almost two weeks after Yolanda's fury when the mobile phone towers were restored.
"I have been eating from relief goods for a month now, sometimes with rice from the aid not so tasty, and most of the time consuming canned goods," hollered Factoranan. He was so elated when told that he and his boxers will be invited to Maasin City.
He will be given something to buy fresh goods in Maasin to be brought to Tacloban. And so does his boxers. He is a trainer for boxing at the Leyte Sports Academy. But the Leyte Sports Center where the LSA athletes were once housed is now a center of relief distribution and evacuation center.
Another national referee Arnold Oquino from Tacloban had his house also destroyed by Yolanda. He was very delighted upon knowing of the invitation to officiate in the boxing card. He said he can breathe fresh air and eat fresh food in Maasin. The city and the province of Southern Leyte miraculously had zero casualty during Yolanda in spite of the Signal No. 4 warning. But there were houses, infrastructures, trees and agriculture which were ravaged.
The fight will also serve as a stress debriefing for the pugilists and officials alike. Fighters, coaches, referees and judges from Tacloban, Ormoc, Baybay, and other parts of Leyte mostly devastated by Yolanda and some towns of Southern Leyte will take part. AIBA/ABAP rules will be used in the open boxing card.
The boxing match-ups will be held on December 17, 2013 at the Maasin City Hall Plaza. The Southern Leyte Boxing Association officials will be at the helm of the tourney.
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