Phl pugs vie in world tiff

MANILA, Philippines - Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar heads a six-man Philippine team which left yesterday for Baku, Azerbaijan to vie for slots in next year’s Olympic Games in London in the AIBA World Boxing Championships slated Sept. 26-Oct. 8.

Except in super heavyweight and heavyweight from where six each will be picked, the top eight boxers from the different weight divisions in the tournament will advance to the London Games.

An Asian Olympic qualifying tournament is scheduled in Kazakhstan early next year, but it is in the World Championship where the Filipino boxers have their best shot.

Saludar will compete in the flyweight (52-kg) division. Joining him are light flyweight Anthony Barriga (46-49 kgs), bantamweight Joan Tipon (56kgs), lightweight Charly Suarez (60kgs), light welterweight Rolando Tacuyan (64kgs) and welterweight Delfin Boholst (69kgs).

Tipon, a gold medal winner in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, was tapped to replace Junel Cantancio who went down with the flu.

In 1996, Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco won a silver from the Atlanta Olympics, and four years before him elder brother Roel took the bronze in Barcelona.

In Seoul in 1988, Leopoldo Serrantes copped a bronze medal, and in Tokyo, back in 1964, Anthony Villanueva took the silver medal, an improvement from the bronze medal finish of his father, Jose, during the 1932 Olympic in Los Angeles.

Harry Tañamor qualified for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after a silver medal performance in the AIBA World Championship in Chicago. But he fell to a counterpunching opponent from Ghana in the first round, dashing another dream of a first-ever Olympic gold medal for the country.

Other than powerhouse Russia and the former Soviet republics, competition will come from Europe, Latin America and even Asia behind Thailand and China.

Also expected to cause a stir is the US Olympic team which has been getting pointers from Freddie Roach, who trains Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, in Colorado Springs.

According to ABAP executive director Ed Picson, a boxer has to win three or four preliminary matches to reach the quarterfinals set Oct. 5.

The semifinals are scheduled on Oct. 7 after a rest day, and the finals follow on Oct. 8.

ABAP president Ricky Vargas, according Picson, has committed full financial support to any boxer who will make it to the Olympics.