Pinoy bets vie for Youth Olympic slots

MANILA, Philippines - Five Filipino teenaged simonpures left Manila for Baku, Azerbaijan, the other night to compete in the 16th World Youth Amateur Boxing Championships where the top four finishers in each of the 11 weight categories will qualify for the first Youth Olympics in Singapore on Aug. 14-26.

Flying the country’s colors are lightflyweight Mark Barriga of Panabo, Davao del Norte, flyweight Jenno Cabugngan of Tagbilaran City, Bohol, bantamweight Ricky Dulay of Calbayog City, Samar, featherweight Nathaniel Montealto of Puerto Princesa and lightweight Robin Palileo who migrated to Australia when he was two but carries a Philippine passport.

Accompanying the fighters to Baku were coaches Elmer Pamisa and Sonny Dollente and Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) executive director Ed Picson. The weigh-in and draw are scheduled Sunday. The preliminaries reel off Monday. The quarterfinals are set April 30, the semifinals May 2 and finals May 3. The tournament was postponed a few days by AIBA (International Boxing Association) because of the travel congestion due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

The Philippine contingent flew out at midnight for the eight-hour trip to Dubai and waited nine hours in a stopover before proceeding to Baku for the 2 1/2-hour flight.

Pamisa, 33, said he is confident at least three of the five hopefuls will make it to the medal round. But he admitted it won’t be smooth sailing in the Youth Olympic qualifiers which will gather 532 fighters from 105 countries. Fighters from Cuba, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, China and Azerbaijan are expected to dominate hostilities in the 11 weight categories from 48 kilograms to +91.

“We’re ready to go to war,” said Pamisa, a two-time Southeast Asian Games silver medalist as a bantamweight in 1997 and 1999. “We’re prepared to fight the best and prove ourselves. Our training was tough and all of our national coaches, including Pat Gaspi, helped out.”

Pamisa said each of the five fighters is capable of pulling a surprise in Baku.    “We like Mark’s chances,” said Pamisa. “He’s quick and he has a big heart. He fights like Onyok (Velasco). Jenno has been training with us for almost a year and spars even with our seniors. Ricky knocked down one of our lightwelterweight seniors Dennis Galvan in sparring during his training. Nathaniel has been training with us for over two months while Robin came in from Australia over a month ago.”

Palileo, 17, is a diamond in the rough and was the standout in the National Open in Bacolod City last year. His coach is Ricardo Fortaleza, a 1970 Asian Games gold medalist and 1972 Munich Olympian.

“Robin has excellent footwork and technique but lacks impact in his punches,” said Pamisa. “We want to give him more exposure. He’s coachable and has a good attitude. He has to develop more power. It’s important for his opponents to respect his punching ability.”

Picson said after the tournament, a five-day workshop for coaches will be held in Baguio to feature USA Boxing high performance director Patrick Borkowski, a master’s degree holder in exercise science and biomechanics from the University of Mississippi. Borkowski worked with the US boxing team in the 2007 Pan American Games and 2008 Olympics. The workshop is scheduled on May 4-8.

The Youth Olympics will open its doors to only 44 boxers in the 17-18 age bracket – all of them to qualify via the Baku tournament.

Cuban head coach Humberto Horta listed 11 fighters in his team for Baku and the cast includes world cadet champions Yunior Valdes and Arlen Lopez. Cuba has dominated the World Youth Championships, formerly known as the World Cadet Championships, by claiming 66 gold, 19 silver and 23 bronze medals since the inception of the biennial tournament in Yokohama in 1979.