Phl fighters see pot of gold, vie in semis

GUANGZHOU – Pride and honor and a pot of gold that includes a P3M bonus on top of bonuses from the Philippine Sports Commission will await three Filipino boxers who will vie for the gold medal round in today’s semifinals of the Asian Games boxing competitions here.

“Our boxers are tired of bronze and silver, they want the gold,” said national coach Roel Velasco in an interview at the Athletes Village.

A bonus of P3M also awaits the champion, while the silver and bronze medalists will take home P1M or P500,000, respectively, on top of the regular incentives from the PSC.

“They are doing light workouts in the cellar in the morning, and they will take a rest later for their fight tomorrow,” said Velasco, referring to the basement of House No. 28 at the Athletes Village.

Annie Albania, still hounded by her first career boxing loss, a first round exit in the World Championships in Barbados last August, will have redemption on her mind when she faces Japanese Aya Shimmoto in the 48-51 kg category of the women’s boxing event.

Also aiming for the gold are brothers Rey Saludar (52kg) and Victor Saludar (46-49kg) in the men’s side.

Albania goes to her semifinal match inspired by her quarterfinal win over a tougher opponent, World Championships silver medalist Kim Hye Sonng of North Korea.

Women’s amateur boxing is a new fixture in the Asian Games and is a relatively new sport worldwide, and the former trackster, whose main weapons are her jab and straight, will have an edge in terms of experience, having collected gold medals from the Asian Indoor Games and three straight golds in the Southeast Asian Games from 2005.

On paper, the Japanese is not as credentialed but national coach Velasco said he had viewed the video tapes of the 24-year-old Japanese, who went into boxing in high school, and said he liked what he saw.

“She can beat the Japanese, who is a slugger,” said Velasco.

“She likes to fight a slugger because she likes to counterpunch – it’s to her advantage,” he added.

Victorio Saludar will be up against Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov, the 2005 World Championship bronze medalist who reached the quarterfinals of the Beijing

Olympics and the 2007 and 2009 Asian Championships. – With report from N. Beltran

“The opponent has a weak breadbasket, but taller, so Victorio can go to the body and land straights,” Velasco said.

His brother Rey will be up against Japanese Susa Katsuaki, a boxer in between his law studies at the prestigious Tokyo University.

Katsuaki, the Doha Asian Games bronze medalist, went into semi-retirement and taught boxing when he did not qualify for the Beijing Olympics but returned this

year determined to improve on his 2006 performance.

End it