Tañamor, Saludar bag bronzes

Olympic lightflyweight boxing qualifier Harry Tañamor scored a stunning third round stoppage of Cuba’s Iran Perez to grab an automatic bronze medal at the fourth Cuban Sports Olympiad in Havana recently.

Tañamor, however, failed to advance to the finals after losing a close 14-12 decision to Beijing qualifier Zhakypov Sarkyzan of Kazakhstan.

Flyweight Rey Saludar also claimed a bronze in the boxing competition that drew 132 fighters from eight countries, namely Russia, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba and the Philippines.

Cuba split its boxers into three teams from the Western, Central and Eastern sectors. In all, there were 16 teams in the tournament.

Another Filipino, bantamweight Charlie Suarez, pulled off a surprise 46-45 countback win over Cuba’s Noelkis Cabrera after their four-round bout ended in a tie, 9-9. Suarez went on to lose an 8-6 quarterfinal heartbreaker to Cuba’s Oxieris Hernandez. He led on points in the first three rounds before faltering down the stretch. Because there were more participants in the bantamweight division than the lightflyweights and flyweights, it took two wins for an automatic bronze. In the Olympics, three wins will mean a sure bronze and four a guaranteed silver.

Two other Filipino campaigners were not as lucky. Featherweight Orlando Tacuyan lost a 10-4 decision to Cuba’s Ivan Onate and lightwelterweight Genebert Basadre, a Doha Asian Games bronze medalist, dropped a 9-2 verdict to Cuba’s Richard Suarez Poll in their opening bouts.

The fourth Cuban Sports Olympiad, an annual affair, brought in over 4,300 athletes from 20 countries. The calendar listed 48 disciplines and five exhibition sports including go-kart racing, rodeo and women’s baseball.

Filipino coach Pat Gaspi said the country’s five-man team immediately plunged into action in the Roberto Balado Cup after the Sports Olympiad. Cuban coaching consultant Enrique Steyners is assisting Gaspi in training the fighters and doing cornerwork during the matches.

The team left for Cuba last April 15 and will be away for at least 21 days. Then, the fighters return to Manila before seeing action in the President’s Cup in Taipei late May. The Taipei tournament will feature Olympic qualifiers from Asia. The Filipinos are also scheduled to participate in the Chemistry Cup in Halle, Germany, in June.

ABAP chief Manny  Lopez denied reports that Tañamor is headed to the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for training with Freddie Roach.

“Not true,” said Lopez. “We don’t want to complicate matters. We’re following the Cuban approach. We’ve decided to go with the recommendations of our consultants Enrique and Dagoberto (Rojas). We’re confident that with their direction, we’re on the right track.”

Lopez said the Cuban consultants are programming at least 15 international bouts for Tanamor before Beijing. The first two of the 15 came in the recent Cuban Sports Olympiad.

Lopez said next Sunday in Iloilo City, the ABAP will hold the National Open for juniors, seniors and women.  The outstanding juniors will be picked for the national pool which Rojas is now reassembling with the 2012 London Olympics as a target.

“We’re now laying the groundwork for the future,” said Lopez. “With Rojas on top of our developmental program, we’re looking to participate in the World Junior Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, in November, the Asian Junior Championships in Singapore next year and the first World Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. That will set the stage for our participation in the London Olympics in 2012.”

Asia has 62 boxing qualifiers for Beijing. China and Kazakhstan top the list with 10 fighters each. Thailand has eight, Uzbekistan seven, India and South Korea five each, Mongolia four, Iran and Tajikistan three each, Japan two, and the Democratic Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan and the Philippines one apiece.