MANILA, Philippines - If the results of the last World Championships are an indication, women’s boxing may be the gold mine the Philippines is looking for in the Olympics but at the moment, the sport is still under review for inclusion in the 2012 London Summer Games.
Women’s boxing was a demonstration sport in the 1904 Olympics – over a century ago – but hasn’t since been back in the calendar. Sweden revived it as a sanctioned sport in 1988 and England followed suit in 1997, two years before the first European Cup. In 2001, the AIBA held the first World Championships in women’s boxing.
There is a strong lobby to include women’s boxing in the London Olympics. AIBA president Dr. Ching Kuo-Wu of Taiwan was recently quoted as saying, “We are quietly confident but we will wait for the IOC (to decide during the Executive Board meeting in October) ... we have submitted a comprehensive proposal and we dearly hope that women’s boxing in the Olympics will become a reality.”
With baseball and softball eliminated from the London agenda, a mad scramble has emerged for other sports to enter. Karate, squash, golf, roller sports and rugby sevens were considered for the Beijing Olympics last year. The finalists were karate and squash but neither gained the 2/3 majority of the Executive Board to make it. Boxing is the only Olympic sport without female participation and Dr. Wu said it’s time to eliminate the exception.
Women’s boxing was introduced in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here in 2005. It remains a question mark for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, where cricket, dancesport, dragon boat and weigi will make their debut.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson said yesterday there is a chance it will be included in the next Asian Games as China performed creditably in the fifth World Championships in Ningbo last November, garnering five gold, two silver and four bronze medals.
Picson said the ABAP women’s pool of 14 fighters is now preparing for the Laos SEA Games in December and will be ready for the Asian Games if the sport is included next year.
The Philippines was one of 13 Asian countries to participate in the 42-nation World Championships that drew 237 fighters in Ningbo. Asian countries took 22 of the 52 medals at stake with the Philippines bagging a silver and two bronzes to rank 10th overall among only 17 nations to ascend the dais. The Philippines was the only SEA country to claim a medal as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam were blanked.
The Filipina medalists were lightbantamweight (52 kg.) Annie Albania (silver), pinweight (46 kg.) Josie Gabuco (bronze) and flyweight (50 kg.) Annalisa Cruz (bronze). The others in the squad were lightflyweight (48 kg.) Alice Kate Aparri, bantamweight (54 kg.) Flordelyn Digmayo and lightweight (60 kg.) Mitchel Martinez. The only fighter who failed to score a win during the tournament was Digmayo who lost a 10-2 decision to Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Hue in her first outing.
Albania, 26, whipped Sacred Downing of the US, 18-0, Song Hye Tong of North Korea, 10-0, and defending champion Laishram Sarita of India, 8-3, before bowing to hometowner Can Can Ren, 4-3, in the finals. Martinez, 32, failed to add to her collection of medals in the World Championships as she lost a 14-3 decision to China’s Cheng Dong in her second bout. Martinez previously claimed a pair of bronze medals at the World Championships in 2005 and 2006.
At the recent National Open in Bacolod, the female elite division gold medalists were Gabuco (pinweight), Aparri (flyweight), Cruz (bantamweight), Albania (featherweight) and Martinez (lightwelterweight).
Dr. Francis Santamaria, who was the Philippine team manager in Ningbo, described the women’s pool as “a world-class group, lacking in exposure but not deficient in spirit, motivation, determination and skills.” He batted for a talent identification program and the creation of a junior team within the first quarter this year to anticipate participation in London. Santamaria, a sports psychologist, suggested to recruit a lady assistant coach-trainer as the pool expands to include two or three more weight categories in support of coaches Roel Velasco and Boy Catolico.
“The ladies team exemplifies the discipline needed to define a winner in the World Championships,” said Santamaria who earned a doctorate at the London University in 1979, specializing in stress and human performance. “These are notably outstanding weight management, compliance, trainability, team espirt d’ corps, personal habits, developing international friendships, diet control and display of respect toward coaches and officials.”
Picson said if women’s boxing is included in the London calendar, it wouldn’t be surprising for the Philippines to end its Olympic drought with a medal in the sport.