ABAP reaches out to Manila’s 1,184 children

"Manila is indeed a haven for future boxers," said Mel Lopez, former Philippine Sports Commission chairman and Manila mayor, during the last leg of the Boxing Lessons in Tondo, another project of the Grassroots Boxing Development Program of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP).

The program is sponsored by Tagaytay Pacific Heights, Inc. (TPHI), Ali Sports Wear and Altitude ’88 International, Inc.

"They are very talented and enthusiastic," Lopez commented on the 1,184 boys and girls of the 10-15 years-old bracket who have successfully hurdled the eight boxing lessons. As incentives, they received T-shirts and school supplies.

Lopez said that to date, 89 chapters were established in Manila alone and the organizers are trying to cope with numerous requests within Metro Manila. The lessons were also conducted at Don Bosco with 170 participants, and earlier, at the Tondo Sports Complex, in San Andres and the Philippine National Railways in Sta. Mesa where over one thousand enthusiastic boys and girls joined the clinics. The program’s immediate target is some 50 additional identified depressed areas in Manila.

The boxing clinics are supported by ABAP’s coaches Roger Fortaleza, Mario Tizon, and Ernesto Coronel, with Roel Velasco, (bronze medalist of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics), as the head coach and Ernesto Andan, Vic Galido, Jackie Trillana and Sav Rey Santos as members.

In 1986, Lopez started the Manila Age-Group Boxing Program under the Manila Integrated Sports Council during his incumbency as city mayor.