While Mongolia has pulled out of the six-nation Manny V. Pangilinan International Friendship Cup in boxing which will be held at the PICC Forum from July 14-19, Macau has indicated a desire to compete in the tournament and is still waiting approval from their government authority.
Boxers from China, Thailand, C hinese-Taipei, Sri Lanka and HongKong will compete in the tournament with the host nation Philippines fielding two teams.
Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson said box-offs are on going in Baguio City to select the Philippines men’s teams which will compete in compete in seven weight categories – 48 kilograms, 51 kgs., 54 kgs., 57 kgs., 60 kgs. 64 kgs., 69 kgs., and four of five categories in the women’s class – 46 kgs., 48 kgs., 51 kgs., 54 kgs., and 57 kgs.
The tournament will serve as a way of checking the readiness of Filipino boxers scheduled to attend training camps in Los Angeles and San Francisco in August and the Women’s World Championship in Bridgetown, Barbados in September.
Picson said “their worthiness will be gauged in this tournament. Of course, all these preparations are geared toward an excellent showing in the Asian Games in Guangzhou this November.”
The MVP International Friendship Cup is patterned after the hugely successful Mayor’s Cup and offers $1,000 for a gold medal. won, has lured fighters from China, Chinese-Taipei, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong
ABAP president Ricky Vargas said the MVP International Friendship Cup “ is in response to the clamor from the international boxing community for the country to once again host a boxing tournament.”
Vargas recalled that “most boxing officials have fond memories of the Mayor’s Cup, and the new leaders at ABAP have been getting requests to revive the tournament. And so we did, with Mr. Pangilinan (the ABAP chairman) graciously allowing us to use his name as tournament title.”
The Mayor’s Cup had drawn at least 20 countries during it’s heydays and while the ABAP is starting small Picson said they “hope to eventually get bigger, just like before.” He said the Mayor’s Cup “for some unknown reason, fizzled out in the late ‘90s before the turn of the century but we’ll do our best to revive its lost glory”
Spawning ground for world amateur boxing champions like Russia’s Konstantin Tszyu, Thailand’s Somluck Kamsing, and North Korea’s 1992 Barcelona Olympics champion Choi Choi Su, the Mayor’s Cup also guided the rise of local heroes, including brothers Mansueto and Roel Velasco.
International Amateur Boxing Association president Dr. Ching Kuo Wu of Taipei will grace opening ceremony along with Chang Jiangping, president of the Asian Boxing Federation, and Richard Guozheng, executive director, both of China.
The 70-80 boxers will be billeted at the Waterfront Pavilion Hotel, with security provided by international security system agency G4S of Great Britain.
ABAP secretary general Patrick Gregorio noted that “this will also be the first test for our elite boxers, our brightest hopes for an Asian Games gold medal.”
Charly Suarez who is one of 14 athletes from 13 countries around the world chosen by G4S as potential medal winners in the 2012 London Olympic Games, brothers Rey and Victor Saludar, and Annie Albania who are training exclusively with coach Nolito ‘Boy’ Velasco, will be seeing action. A fifth boxer, youthful Mark Anthony Barriga, underwent an appendectomy recently and was not included in the line up.
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