HAVING seen their respective journeys in reaching the Paris Olympics, boxing secretary general Marcus Manalo strongly believes the five Pinoy boxers competing have every chance to go all the way and achieve a golden breakthrough in the quadrennial sports spectacle.
“These five (Eumir Felix Marcial, Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas and Hergie Bacyadan) we have now, I believe, have a very good chance to podium and go all the way.
Personally speaking, they have the best chance to win the elusive (boxing) gold medal in the Olympics,” Manalo said yesterday during the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the PSC Conference Room.
Joining Manalo in the public sports program backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, San Miguel Corp., Milo, Smart and Arena Plus were the three female boxers and coaches Don Abnett, Ronald Chavez and Reynaldo Galido.
Marcial is training in Las Vegas while Paalam is back in his hometown of Cagayan de Oro City to celebrate the first birthday of his daughter Celeste together with his family today.
The best finish achieved by Filipino boxers at the Olympics were silver medals by Petecio and Paalam in the Tokyo Games and similar accomplishments by Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco in the 1960 Tokyo and 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, respectively.
Chavez and Abnett, the Australian tactician behind the Pinoy boxers’ success in Tokyo three years ago, shared Manalo’s sentiments about the golden potential of all five boxing standard-bearers.
“Marami na akong nasamahang mga national teams at naniniwala ako na itong limang ito ang may pag-asang makapag-uwi ng ginto sa Paris,” Chavez, a former Asian lightweight veteran of the 1992 Barcelona Olympiad, said.
“First of all, it is great to see the three medalists (Marcial, Paalam and Petecio) from the last Olympics join this team,” Abnett noted. “The performance has been great from all the five athletes. It looks good for a good performance in the Olympics.”
Petecio expressed her desire to finally strike gold after losing to hometown bet Sena Irie 0-5 in the Japanese capital in 2021.
“May nag-comment sa social media na kaya ako nag-qualify muli kasi may iniwan akong ginto nu’ng nakaraan. Gustung-gusto ko ‘yun,” she said.
Abnett said that while Marcial and Paalam are battling in heavier weight divisions compared to their previous categories in Tokyo, “I believe that their experience and punching power will help them well in their respective draws.”
Bacyadan and Villegas, set to make their Olympic debuts, detailed their personal battles of self-doubt before finally punching tickets to Paris and vowed to give their all.
Manalo said they have scouted the opposition now that the Olympic cast is complete and “at the end of the day it will be the execution of the game plan on the actual day of competition that will matter.
“We focus on the process and let the results speak for themselves,” he said.
Manalo said all five boxers will be with the Philippine contingent for a week in Metz, France before heading to a multi-nation training camp in Saarbrucken, Germany for three weeks before the Paris Olympics.
“We will be with other qualifiers from other countries like the US and Australia, India, Thailand, Cuba and Mongolia. We will need training partners prior to the Paris Olympics,” he said.
