ABAP polls crucial to sport's future

The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) will hold elections for officers in Makati tomorrow and sources said yesterday a reorganization is in the offing to bolster the country’s bid for a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics.

Expected to attend the polls are 17 ABAP regional directors who will vote the officers to serve in the next four years. A closed-door meeting to be presided by ABAP president Manny Lopez will precede the balloting which is expected to consolidate support for the leadership in the quest for the Olympic gold. 

Lopez was not available for comment at presstime but before the Beijing Olympics last August, he intimated to The Star his plans of playing a supportive role in the future.

“My love for the sport has not waned and the dream to win an Olympic gold in boxing is stronger than ever,” he said at that time. “I will never turn my back on my country and ABAP. My heart will always belong to amateur boxing.”

Lopez said pressure from work in the family’s myriad businesses and a longing to spend more time with his wife and two daughters may lead to taking a less active role in ABAP.

“I will never be a source of disunity,” said Lopez. “I don’t see myself as irreplaceable in ABAP. This position isn’t for life. But it’s a personal commitment to do what I can for amateur boxing. Whatever sacrifice it takes to institute reforms in the system, I will do if it will lead to meaningful change, no matter what anyone says.”

Lopez, however, has remained mum on his intentions after the Beijing Olympics where the country’s sole boxing qualifier Harry Tanamor was eliminated in his first bout against Ghana ’s Manyo Plange.

Sources said the reorganization will professionalize ABAP and prepare it for a full-scale, all-out program with the objective of winning the Olympic gold in 2012.

Whatever happens in the polls, Lopez will continue to serve ABAP in some capacity. Since Lopez is in POC president Jose Cojuangco’s ticket to run as first vice president in the Nov. 28 polls, he will need to be president, vice president or secretary-general of ABAP for eligibility purposes.

Lopez was elected to serve out his father Mel’s remaining term as ABAP president in 1995 and got a fresh mandate for his first four-year term in 1996. He has since been voted to serve two more terms. Under his leadership, Onyok Velasco took the silver medal in the lightflyweight division at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the Philippines dominated boxing at the Southeast Asian Games in 2005 and bagged two gold medals at the Asian Games in Doha a year later.

With PLDT’s pledge to support the campaign for an Olympic gold, sources speculated that trusted lieutenants of the telecommunications company’s chairman Manny Pangilinan may be nominated for key ABAP positions in tomorrow’s elections. If this materializes, the same sources added it will be a welcome development in the wake of reports that ABAP critics were mulling to file a case in court to force a change in leadership.

Last month, Pangilinan was in Cebu and conferred with businessman-sportsman Tony Aldeguer on the possibility of tying up for the Olympic quest. Aldeguer has reportedly offered his boxing facilities to the national boxing team and may be tapped as training director.

PLDT senior executive Ricky Vargas, a former PBA chairman, and Smart Sports’ director Patrick Gregorio were two individuals rumored to be joining Aldeguer in the ABAP reorganization, said sources. Pangilinan himself may be nominated as ABAP chairman.

Lopez, who is secretary-general of the Asian Amateur Boxing Federation and a member of the executive board of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), is expected to remain in ABAP because of his extensive overseas contacts. His role will be crucial in cementing relations with foreign organizations in the highly-politicized AIBA.

Sources also said the reorganization will lead to a nationwide, reaching-out process where rivalling factions will be united for the common purpose of achieving the coveted Olympic gold in the spirit of solidarity.