Suarez promises to return; no word on Albania

MANILA, Philippines - Boxer Charly Suarez, an Olympic hopeful who’s still missing in action after the Christmas break, promised to return to camp by next week, although he still faces possible sanction for skipping two weeks of training.

“Charly called me up last Friday, claiming he’s just attending to personal matters back home in Davao and said he’ll be reporting for training on Jan. 15,” Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) executive director Ed Picson said yesterday.

The boxing team was allowed to take a breather from Dec. 15 until Jan. 3 but Suarez and another top bet, Asian Games silver medalist Annie Albania, were a no-show at resumption of training.

Picson said Albania has not left a message and efforts to contact the pride of Banga, South Cotabato have been futile so far. Suarez only contacted Picson last Friday, the fifth day of training.

Despite the boxer’s promise to rejoin the team, Picson stressed that this would not absolve Suarez of any disciplinary action from the ABAP.

“If he has a valid reason, we would be considerate but if he has no reasonable excuse, disciplinary action will be in order,” Picson said, referring to penalties ranging from suspension to expulsion from the team.

“We want to make it clear that there’s no superstar treatment here. They (Albania and Suarez) should actually be the ones to set examples and adhere to our regulations and code of discipline,” he said.