Panabo pugs top favorites in youth tourney

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — All eyes will be on the boxers from defending champion Panabo City from down south in Davao del Norte when hostilities in the 2005 National Youth and Women’s Boxing Championships kick off at 3 p.m. today.

The sluggers from Panabo, handled by Rep. Antonio Floirendo, remain the heavy favorites, but a host others, including Puerto Princesa City, are expected to go all out for the overall crown.

Mayor Edward Hagedorn has vowed his boxers would stamp their mark in the tournament, which was formally opened Sunday afternoon at the state-of-the-art Puerto Princesa Coliseum.

The female boxers from Puerto Princesa, including nationals Gretchen Abaniel and Josie Gabuco, stand as the biggest threats to the Panabo bets.

Abaniel and Gabuco’s international exposures and rigid training in the national team will come in handy in this weeklong slugfest organized by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP). Abaniel and Gabuco are products of the annual ABAP national open.

Two-time Olympian Romeo Brin, 31, will also provide luster and much hope as he coaches the Puerto Princesa squad.

Besides drawing the best out of the fists of the hopefuls, the ABAP finds the tournament as a rich source of potentials for future international campaigns."We hope to discover more potentials here for major competitions, from the Southeast Asian Games to the Olympics," said Lopez.

Echoed Hagedorn: "We hope that by hosting the National Youth and Women’s Championships, we in Puerto Princesa would be of help toward the search for that first Filipino gold medalist in the Olympics," he said.

Two hundred boxers representing 21 teams from all over the country are competing in the tournament. Official weigh in starts at 7:30 a.m. today.