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Pinoy boxers head to SEA Games not thinking medals

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Manolo Pedralvez

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Eumir Marcial looks to add more SEA Games gold medals to his name in Hanoi next month. AFP/file" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/04/24/marcial.jpg"/><figcaption>Eumir Marcial looks to add more SEA Games gold medals to his name in Hanoi next month. AFP/file</figcaption></figure></div>Filipino boxers struck a bonanza at the 2019 30th Southeast Asian Games, garnering seven gold, three silver and two bronze medals to top the nine-nation boxing tournament held at the Philippine International Convention Center Forum.Trying to duplicate or surpass that performance at the 31st Vietnam SEA Games in Hanoi next month could still be possible, according to boxing secretary general Marcus Manalo, who, however, said that being medal-oriented is not the way how the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines program works.“We don’t really talk like we have to win this number of golds or whatever. We are really focused on the process (in making our boxers better). To take care of the process and improve as much as you can,” Manalo said.“The coaches have specific time lines, periodized ’yung training ’yan. Alam kung saan magpi-peak. May objective sa sparring and other specific goals. (The boxers have periodized training. Our coaches know when they should peak, there is an objective in sparring and other specific goals.)“We pay attention to that and come up with a good fight plan for every bout.”Overseeing the boxers is Australian coach Don Abnett, the architect of the country’s most successful Olympic ring campaign last year that netted two silvers from flyweight Carlo Paalam and featherweight Nesthy Petecio plus a bronze from middleweight Eumir Felix Marcial in the Tokyo Summer Games.All three were making their Olympic debut in the Japanese capital. Abnett and assistant coach Ronald Chavez are looking after the SEA Games-bound national team currently training at the Thai National Boxing Training Center in Muak Lek, Suraburi province, 154.8 kilometers northeast of the Thai capital of Bangkok, according to Manalo.The Filipino fighters decided to stay in Thailand for training after the recent Thailand Open when the Thai Amateur Boxing Association offered them to stay at its training camp after working out there two weeks before the competition, he said.“We took up the offer so they will stay there until the team leaves for the Vietnam SEA Games,” said Manalo, adding that Marcial was scheduled to join them on Saturday after competing in his recent pro bout in the US.The boxing sec-gen said the decision of ABAP, led by Ed Picson, was made despite the fact the PH fighters would continue to be scouted by the Thais together with the Vietnam and Cambodian boxing squads, which are also practicing at the Muak Lek training facility.“The Thais, Vietnamese and Cambodians already know us from our stint in the Thailand Open so this is no big deal. Pagalingan na lang ng boksingero in Hanoi (May the best boxers win in Hanoi),” he pointed out. Manalo bared that scheduled to depart for Thailand on Saturday was Marcial, who arrived in Manila last weekend after his second pro bout in the US, where he survived three knockdowns before stopping upset-conscious American Isiah Hart last April 10 at the Virgins Hotel in Las Vegas.Awaiting Marcial in Muak Lek are the four other men and five women who will see action in the Vietnam SEA Games boxing tournament starting on May 16 at the Bac Ninh Gymnasium in Bach Ninh province, located 38.6 kilometers northeast of the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.The Zamboanga City pride, who is gunning for a fourth straight SEA Games gold medal, will be reunited with national teammates Rogen Ladon, James Palicte, Ian Clark Bautista and Marjon Planar, Manalo said.Flyweight Ladon and lightweight Palicte are defending their SEA Games crowns while welterweight bantamweight and bantamweight Bautista are keen on improving their podium finishes of silver and bronze, respectively, in the Philippine edition three years ago.Tokyo Olympians Petecio and Irish Magno, a 2019 SEA Games silver medalist, are also in Thailand together with veteran light flyweight and defending champion Josie Gabuco, Riza Pasuit and middleweight Hergie Bacyadan are also in Thailand.Although she is the reigning featherweight champ, Petecio is moving up to the lightweight division while Pasuit, who won a featherweight gold medal in the Thailand Open, will be sliding in to take over the former’s spot in the weight class, Manalo disclosed. Manalo said that the national team will leave Thailand for Vietnam on May 13, three days before the SEA Games boxing meet, to acclimatize to conditions there.He was confident that if the coaches and boxers “focus more on the process, the results will take care of themselves” when the Filipino fighters slug it out in the Vietnam Games. “That has always been our approach ever since for each and every tournament and proved successful so far,” Manalo said.

The Philippines is sending 10 boxers to the Hanoi SEA Games next month, including Olympic medalists Eumir Marcial and Nesthy Petecio.