Boxers start Olympic buildup

The Team Caltex Philippines boxing team starts its buildup for this year's Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia as it embarks on a five-month training in its quest to end the country's gold medal drought in quadrennial games.

"This is it," said Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez as he and Team Caltex Philippines, which included the four Olympic qualifiers and two reserves, leave for Sydney, Australia where the squad will be based.

"The four qualifiers, the two reserves and the national coaching staff will use Sydney as its training base for proper acclimatization and the stepping stone for the four international tournaments the team will join," Lopez said.

Lopez, who also led a five-man team to the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 where Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco won a silver medal, said the team will participate in the Seychelles international tourney on June 2-9 after which the team proceeds to Mexico City for a June 9-17 competitions before returning to Sydney to re-fresh and train.

The team, whose campaign is sponsored by Caltex Philippines Inc., Adidas, and Pacific Heights, will also invade Cuba to compete in three tournaments - the annual Cordova-Cardin tournament, the Balado Memorial Cup and the International Juvenile - before finally completing a July 15 to Aug. 15 journey with a three-week training session with the Cuban Olympic boxing team.