WORLD champion Nesthy Petecio and veteran Carlo Paalam stand as the country’s brightest hopes to earn tickets to the Tokyo Olympics after the International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force (BTF) announced in a virtual meeting on Monday that the World Qualifiers for the Games were canceled.
Petecio is the No. 2-ranked featherweight in the world while Paalam is No. 12 in men’s light flyweight.
Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) secretary general Ed Picson told BusinessMirror that the BTF will go to the world and continental rankings in filling up slots in the men’s division (186 across eight weight classes) and women’s category (100 across five weight classes).
“But our hopes do not solely rest on Nesthy and Carlo because there are certain quotas allotted for each of the continents,” Picson said. “Everyone else in the bubble still have chances.”
Paalam ranks outside the top 10 but Picson stressed he has a fighting chance under the continental quota rule for qualification.
Middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial and flyweight Irish Magno qualified for Tokyo from last year’s qualifiers in Amman, Jordan, barely days before the global lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic was enforced.
The BTF has taken over the function of organizing the boxing competitions in the Olympics after the International Boxing Association was suspended by the Olympic body in 2019. The suspension remains in effect.
The world qualifiers were originally scheduled for May 2020 in Paris but was postponed for this year because of the pandemic. The uncompleted qualifiers in the Americas and Europe, however, will push through, but had to be moved back to May and June, respectively.
“The BTF explained that because of time constraints and safety concerns, it was decided to forego the world qualifiers,” said Picson, who attended the online meeting along with more than 30 other boxing federation officials in Asia.
“This might prove beneficial to our cause, because some of our boxers are ranked highly among those who have not yet qualified. I hope we get at least two more in Tokyo,” Abap president Ricky Vargas said.
Picson said that despite the cancellation of the world qualifiers, the Filipino aspirants will remain in training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy bubble in Calamba, Laguna.
Inside the bubble are Magno, Petecio and fellow women boxers bantamweight Aira Villegas and lightweights Quesedian Riza Pasuit and Analene Cellon.
Also in Calamba besides Paalam are Rogen Ladon (52 kgs), Marvin Tabamo (52 kgs), Ian Clark Bautista (56 kgs), Junilardo Ogayre (56 kgs), James Palicte (63 kgs), John Paul Panuayan (60 kgs), Mario Fernandez (56 kgs), Marjon Pianan (69 kgs) and Samuel dela Cruz (64 kgs). Rio 2016 Olympian Charly Suarez is also set to join the bubble.
The Olympics are set from July 23 to August 8.
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