CEBU, Philippines – In an effort to boost its sports program, the city government of Maasin bids for the hosting of the 2013 Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) National Boxing Championships. The event will also make the city known throughout the country especially in the sporting world. It will be the local government unit’s contribution for the advancement of amateur boxing in the country.
The bid was coursed through ABAP Executive Director Ed Picson. This writer met with Picson personally at a dinner in Cebu City before he left for the London Olympics to discuss the merits of Maasin's hosting the biggest national boxing event next year.
The proposed tentative schedule is either in February or March 2013. The annual budget for sports development of the city will include the expenses of the hosting which will amount to an estimated P1 million. This will include the hotel accommodation of the boxers and their coaches, including their meals.
Maasin is accessible by land transportation from the Luzon (through Sorsogon and Samar) and Mindanao Area (through Surigao City). It could be reached by plane through Tacloban Airport. The main venue is the 5,000-seater Maasin City Gymnasium, just in front of the City Hall. Hotels where the boxers, coaches and officials will be billeted are at walking distances from the City Gym.
The hosting of big sporting events is embodied in the vision of Maasin as a “center for sports excellence, eco-recreation and religious pilgrimage in this part of the Visayas.” It will boast tourism and economic activities in this bustling capital city of Southern Leyte.
Maasin's amateur boxing program is on a modest rise. It garnered the overall championship for boxing during the 2012 Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet. Maasin got three silver medals during the Batang Pinoy Visayas leg in Dumaguete City last November and got one silver and two bronze medals during the National Batang Pinoy 2011 in Naga City last December. During the national championships in Tagbilaran City last year, Ruby Nicanor got the silver medal in the 48 kgs. junior girls and Shiela Jean Vanzuela won bronze medal in the 40 kgs. youth girls.
Edileo Abrea is now a member of the ABAP national training team in Baguio City. National coaches Elias Recaido, 2004 Hiroshima Asian Games gold medalist, and Joan Tipon, 2010 Doha Asian Games gold medalist, conducted coaching clinics in Maasin last August. It is part of the city’s upgrading of the coaches’ competence.
The Southern Leyte Amateur Boxing Association, under the auspices of the ABAP, was organized in the city to spearhead officiating proficiency in the whole province. The referees and judges here were trained by the Amateur Boxing Referees and Judges Association of the Philippines (ABREJAP) through Dante de Castro. – THE FREEMAN