MANILA, Philippines - The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) has named 18 candidates to fill six male and four female slots for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore on June 5-16. While eight of the 18 nominees bagged medals at the last SEA Games in Myanmar two years ago, the list excludes London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga and 2014 Asian Games silver medalist Charly Suarez who were barred from participating by AIBA (International Boxing Association) because they are ranked in the top eight of their divisions and qualified to fight in the APB (AIBA Pro Boxing) for the chance to advance to the 2016 Olympics.
ABAP executive director Ed Picson said despite the absence of Barriga and Suarez in Singapore, the Philippine team will be deep enough to reap high honors. In Myanmar, the Philippines collected three gold, four silver and three bronze medals in boxing. The goal is to surpass the haul.
Each country is limited to six male and four female fighters in the SEA Games. ABAP submitted 18 names, including five females, to the POC and PSC for accreditation. The cast will be trimmed to a maximum of 10 in late April or early May. Head coach Pat Gaspi will recommend the final roster to ABAP chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, president Ricky Vargas, secretary-general Patrick Gregorio and Picson.
For men, the lightflyweight candidates are Aldren Moreno and Rogen Ladon. Other nominees are Ian Clark Bautista and Roldan Boncales for flyweight, Mario Fernandez and Jonas Bacho for bantamweight, Junel Cantancio and James Palicte for lightweight, Dennis Galvan and Mico Magliquian for lightwelterweight, Eumir Marcial and Joel Bacho for welterweight and Wilfred Lopez for middleweight. Since the restriction is six males, ABAP will strike out one of the seven divisions where it has nominees. Coaching the males are Boy Velasco and Romeo Brin.
For women, the lightflyweight nominees are Josie Gabuco and Maricris Igram. Other candidates are Irish Magno for flyweight, Riza Pasuit for bantamweight and Nesthy Petecio for featherweight. Coaching the women are Roel Velasco and Mitchel Martinez. Magno, Pasuit and Petecio are the only shoo-ins for Singapore. Lopez is the only nominee for men’s middleweight but isn’t sure to make it as ABAP will still decide whether or not to submit an entry in his division.
Fernandez and Gabuco took gold medals at the last SEA Games. Silver medalists were Cantancio, Galvan, Lopez and Petecio while bronze medalists were Igram and Magno. At the Asian Games in Incheon last year, Fernandez claimed the bronze as a bantamweight and Lopez, also the bronze as a middleweight.
Marcial, Bautista and Palicte captured gold medals at the Asian Youth Championships in 2013 and are hoping to battle in Singapore. Marcial was 15 when he bagged the gold as a lightbantamweight at the World Junior Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2011.
“Anyone of our 18 candidates is capable of winning the gold in Singapore,” said Picson. “It’ll be tough to decide which six male boxers to send. For the women, either Josie or Maricris could win the gold in the lightflyweight division so that’s also a hard call to make.”
Gabuco, 27, won the gold medal as a mid-flyweight at the World Championships in Qinhuangdao, China, in 2012. Igram took the bronze as a flyweight at the last SEA Games and is moving down to lightflyweight in her bid to perform in Singapore. Magno is also dropping from bantamweight in Myanmar to flyweight in Singapore.
Barriga is ranked No. 3 in the lightflyweight division by AIBA and Suarez, No. 3 in the lightweight class. Since they’re in the top eight of their categories, AIBA seeded them for the APB which begins in May. The top two placers of each division in the APB gain outright tickets to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Picson said ABAP has no immediate plans to send fighters in the national pool to train at the AIBA World Boxing Academy in the Talgar region near Almaty, Kazakhstan. “The training cost is $86 a day for each boxer to train with the Kazakh national team,” he said. “It’s a credit to our program that Australia prefers to send fighters to train with ours in Baguio. Last February, Australia sent its men’s team to train with us for 2 1/2 weeks. Now, Australian coach Kevin Smith, who used to be our foreign consultant, is bringing women over to train. We’re in the process of checking availability of accommodations at Teachers Camp.”
The Academy is a 21,000-square meter complex with five boxing rings, weights gym, basketball courts, football pitch, running track, 25-meter swimming pool, hotel for 160, dining room for 180 and medical facilities. It was inaugurated last year with two main programs – Road to Dream for fighters and athletes and the Academy of Sports Science and Administration for sports managers, team officials, event organizers, sports medicine practitioners and governance.
ABAP officers Karina Picson and Gaspi enrolled at the Academy in September last year. Picson was certified as a Tournament Supervisor and Gaspi, as a three-star coach after finishing their courses. Another ABAP officer Dr. Isagani Leal took a course for ring physicians in Assisi, Italy, last year. Because of their certifications, Picson, Gaspi and Dr. Leal received appointments to join AIBA commissions from AIBA president Dr. Ching Kuo Wu last January. Picson was assigned to the AIBA Women’s Commission, Gaspi to the AIBA Coaches’ Commission and Dr. Leal to the AIBA Medical Commission. The appointments were a strong indication of AIBA’s recognition of ABAP as a major member nation. They attended meetings of their commissions in Lausanne last February.