The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) has always believed that every time its boxers join the Olympics, that is the country’s best chance to win its first gold medal.
That belief has not changed, especially now that the Philippines will have four boxers who qualified in the Tokyo Olympics in July.
“We took over ABAP in 2009. The first Olympics that we handled was in 2012. We only had one boxer there in Mark Anthony Barriga. In 2016, we had two from one, it doubled. Charly Suarez and Rogen Ladon. Now, we have four, it doubled again. Eight boxers in 2024 in Paris?” said ABAP secretary general Ed Picson in the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) online forum on Tuesday.
“We aim high. Is this the best chance we have? We always feel, whether we have one, two, or four boxers, those were the best chances that we had for optimal performance in the Olympics. We cannot believe otherwise. If we’re going to believe that it’s likely we’ll lose since we have one boxer only, then let’s not compete at all.”
“This time we have four boxers. It made us believe even more that our chances are big. It quadrupled from 2012, isn’t this the best chance? Of course.”
The Pinoy boxers who qualified for the Olympics are Nesthy Petecio, Irish Magno, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial.
Petecio, Magno, Paalam and the rest of the Philippine national boxing team are now holding a training camp in Thailand before they go to India for another training camp in May, Covid-19 situation permitting, where Marcial is expected to join.
Marcial is currently training under the MP Promotions in Los Angeles, California. (N.V. Masoy, TMT)