Two University of Baguio students may yet get tickets to Tokyo this July for the Summer Olympics which has been postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aside from Irish Magno, who qualified in 2019 in Amman, Jordan, Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam may just get the ticket to the Japanese capital for the quadrennial event that will see Filipina boxers competing for the first time.
The Association of Boxing Alliance of the Philippines over the weekend has announced the cancellation of the world boxing Olympic qualifiers in Paris, France in June where Paalam and Petecio are scheduled to compete for seats to the Olympics.
But the event has been cancelled due to the unpredictable health and safety conditions due to Covid-19 that has raised the hopes of ABAP leaders of seeing the two boxers getting the slots.
ABAP secretary general Ed Picson is hopeful that the two pugs will automatically be seeded to the Olympics as both are ranked high in the world rankings in their respective weight divisions.
Petecio is ranked fifth while Paalam is 12.
Picson joined last week’s online meeting attended by boxing representatives from over 30 Asian countries, wherein the Task Force explained the decision during a one-hour presentation.
While, the Euro and Americas Olympic qualifiers would proceed and have been scheduled for May and June, respectively, the Asian side will be cancelled, said icson. PML
it was revealed during the online meeting.
In a release last week, ABAP president Ricky Vargas expressed hope of the two fighters chances of landing a set each as he said, “This might prove beneficial to our cause, since some of our boxers are ranked highly among those who have not yet qualified. I hope we get at least two more in Tokyo.”
The ABAP is awaiting the list for the Tokyo Olympics where the Asia-Oceania region is allotted six slots each in both weight categories. Pigeon Lobien