RP pugs a combine of youth, experience

Still mourning the loss of its longtime secretary-general, the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines buckled down to work yesterday as it bared the composition of the national team that will see action in the Vietnam SEA Games this December.

Manny Lopez, ABAP president, named the nine boxers who will vie for the gold in Vietnam and try to erase the painful memories of the country’s zero-gold performance in boxing during the 2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

To don the RP colors in Vietnam are Juanito Magliquian (45 kg), Harry Tanamor (48), Violito Payla (51), Joan Tipon (54), Roel Laguna (57), Anthony Igusquiza (60), Mark Jason Melligen (64), Francis Joven (69) and Fil-American Chris Camat (75).

The lineup was announced after a series of deliberations among the coaching staff led by George Caliwan, Boy Velasco and Pat Gaspi. They based their selection on the boxers’ winnability, attitude (discipline, personal character and attendance), opponents’ profile and performances in local and international exposures.

"This is a combination of youth and experience and a couple of surprises," said Lopez, still mourning the loss of Renato "Rene" Fortaleza, who passed away last Friday after battling cancer for more than two years.

Fortaleza, a veteran of the 1972 Munich Olympics, has been the ABAP secretary-general since 1981. He succumbed to multiple organ failure at the Philippine General Hospital, barely two weeks before his 48th birthday.

Looking ahead, Lopez is confident that the RP boxers will once again deliver in the biennial meet.

"I really feel that we will figure prominently in the gold medal race in Vietnam. At first, we were looking at Thailand as the biggest obstacle but based on our experience in the recent pre-SEA Games tournament in Vietnam, the hosts will likely pull off some surprises," he said.

A six-man RP team competed in the Vietnam tournament early this month and won three golds, two of them by Magliquian and Tipon, against boxers from Thailand, China, Laos and Vietnam. But the biggest surprise of the tournament were the Vietnamese who nailed four golds in the 51, 57, 60 and 69 kg divisions.

Magliquian, at 30 the oldest in the team, will provide the experience while Melligen, at 17 the youngest in the lineup, will provide the fresh legs. Tanamor, Payla, Laguna, Igusquiza and Camat are also veteran internationalists while Tipon and Joven are full of promise.

"They’re up in Baguio training and if they put up a good show in Vietnam, they may go all the way to the Olympic qualifying in Palawan next January," said Lopez who’s also looking forward to the qualifying tournament for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Tanamor, Payla and Laguna, along with Ferdie Gamo (54 kg) will leave for India today to see action in the tough Afro-Asia Games scheduled Nov. 24 to Dec. 1. Aside from boxing, other sports to be contested are athletics, football, hockey, shooting, swimming, tennis and weightlifting.