Gabuco, Petecio snare boxing gold

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The PLDT-ABAP team comes home from an expedition in the 21st President’s Cup Saturday with a medal haul of two golds, two silvers, and two bronzes.

Comprised of veterans and potentials, the nine-member national team waged battle in a tournament featuring 28 countries and nearly 200 boxers.

Josie Gabuco started the finals on a high note with a come-from-behind victory over Gui Jing Shan of China in the 48 kg division.

Gabuco trailed in the first three rounds even as she took the fight to her opponent. But the scores were consistently indicative of a different style and the Filipina had to raise her aggressive extra notches in the fourth to turn the tide, 14-11.

Nesthy Petecio, 19, left nothing to chance as she dominated Vietnam’s Le Thi Bang from the get-go and won convincingly, 19-12, in the 51 kg class to cop the Philippines’ second gold medal.

But Ian Clark Bautista, the 16-year-old who drew raves from the crowd here for his giant-slaying prowess, finally met his match in Naoya Inouye of Japan, who played excellently to the judges’ hands in earning an incredible 27-10 win in the 49 kg category.

Bautista won the first silver medal for the Philippines.

Charly Suarez also fell prey to the new scoring system and had to go on a punching spree in the third final round to close the gap but still lost the match against Cen Yu of China, 19-17, in the 60 kg department.

Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson commended his wards.

“Two medals of each kind is nothing to sneeze at,” he said. “But we feel we should have fared better if only we were able to analyze the scoring patterns of the judges here.”

The need to study the recently introduced system is imperative, Picson said.

“We’re not complaining, but we thought we should have earned more points. Still, it could be the new scoring system that beat us. We will take a closer look and see how we can make it work for us the next time.”

Aside for the gold medals of Gabuco and Petecio and the silver finish of Suarez and Bautista, the PLDT-ABAP team, backed by Smart-PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan and president Ricky Vargas of Maynilad, got bronze medals from Analisa Cruz (51 kg) and Nathaniel Montealto (64 kg).

Coaches were Ronald Chavez and Sonny Dollente while the women’s team manager was Karina Picson.