Final stand for PHL
THE Philippine contingent ran smack against the favored countries in the early going and was unable to gather any momentum in the Asian Boxing Championships in Mongolia.
The first to fall was welterweight Wilfredo Lopez, who drew a Chinese opponent.
Next was 2010 Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar, who lasted only two rounds against Mongolia’s Nyambayar Tugstsogt, a silver medalist in the last AIBA World Championships.
Bantamweight Joegin Ladon and lightweight Charly Suarez saved the opening day with convincing victories over their Jordanian and Tajik opponents.
Ladon hammered Seif Emad Qrash, 17-7, while Suarez, a back-to-back Southeast Asian Games (Seag) gold medalist, upset world no. 3 Madadi Nagzebekov, 14-11.
The second day offered no better results as Bago City’s Dennis Galvan, who also won a gold in last year’s Seag in Indonesia, succumbed to hard-hitting Kim Choi Song of the People’s Republic of Korea in a slam-bang affair, 18-8.
Last Saturday, Ladon met China’s Zhang Jiawei and engaged him in toe-to-toe action that resulted in an even count after round 1 and the Chinese up by only one in round 2. However, the 30-year-old Philippine Navyman tried too hard to offset the slim advantage of the Chinese and paid dearly for it, eventually bowing, 13-8.
Abap executive director Ed Picson, who leads the delegation here, said, “We expected the competition to be top-notch but we just didn’t get any breaks in the draw. Our four losses were to Mongolia, DPRK and twice to China. How much stronger could the opposition be? But it just goes to show that we need to catch up with the powers in boxing. We cannot depend on the luck of the draw to get momentum.”
Going into Monday’s bouts, the Philippines’ last man standing was Suarez.
“We’ve got a seasoned campaigner in Charly and he is coming off a sensational stint in the WSB. We hope he can turn things around. But he has a tough task – he needs to win the gold medal to qualify for the Olympics. But if there’s one guy who can pull it off, it’s Charly,” said Picson.
So far, only Mark Anthony Barriga has qualified for the Olympiad. He is with the RP team in Kazakhstan for training. They had previously been in Bangkok also for a joint training camp.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas and secretary-general Patrick Gregorio are scheduled to arrive Monday in time for the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Asian Boxing Confederation.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on April 10, 2012.
The first to fall was welterweight Wilfredo Lopez, who drew a Chinese opponent.
Next was 2010 Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar, who lasted only two rounds against Mongolia’s Nyambayar Tugstsogt, a silver medalist in the last AIBA World Championships.
Bantamweight Joegin Ladon and lightweight Charly Suarez saved the opening day with convincing victories over their Jordanian and Tajik opponents.
Ladon hammered Seif Emad Qrash, 17-7, while Suarez, a back-to-back Southeast Asian Games (Seag) gold medalist, upset world no. 3 Madadi Nagzebekov, 14-11.
The second day offered no better results as Bago City’s Dennis Galvan, who also won a gold in last year’s Seag in Indonesia, succumbed to hard-hitting Kim Choi Song of the People’s Republic of Korea in a slam-bang affair, 18-8.
Last Saturday, Ladon met China’s Zhang Jiawei and engaged him in toe-to-toe action that resulted in an even count after round 1 and the Chinese up by only one in round 2. However, the 30-year-old Philippine Navyman tried too hard to offset the slim advantage of the Chinese and paid dearly for it, eventually bowing, 13-8.
Abap executive director Ed Picson, who leads the delegation here, said, “We expected the competition to be top-notch but we just didn’t get any breaks in the draw. Our four losses were to Mongolia, DPRK and twice to China. How much stronger could the opposition be? But it just goes to show that we need to catch up with the powers in boxing. We cannot depend on the luck of the draw to get momentum.”
Going into Monday’s bouts, the Philippines’ last man standing was Suarez.
“We’ve got a seasoned campaigner in Charly and he is coming off a sensational stint in the WSB. We hope he can turn things around. But he has a tough task – he needs to win the gold medal to qualify for the Olympics. But if there’s one guy who can pull it off, it’s Charly,” said Picson.
So far, only Mark Anthony Barriga has qualified for the Olympiad. He is with the RP team in Kazakhstan for training. They had previously been in Bangkok also for a joint training camp.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas and secretary-general Patrick Gregorio are scheduled to arrive Monday in time for the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Asian Boxing Confederation.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on April 10, 2012.
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