Justine Valero and Sean Oneil Abello were the youngest winners in the Visayas Leg of the Batang Pinoy National Championships

The Batang Pinoy National Championships is a competition to support the next generation of the young boxers in the Philippines. The Visayas Leg of the Batang Pinoy National Championships was held in the city of Iloilo and seven new school and junior level winners have been crowned in the event.
The Philippine Sports Commission and The Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) supported to host the Visayas Leg of the Batang Pinoy National Championships. The Visayas Leg was a qualification event before the all-national Batang Pinoy National Championships which will be held later this year and the bests will be selected to attend also in the international stages.
Following the Mindanao Leg of the Batang Pinoy National Championships the Visayas Leg was held in Iloilo and the quality of the bouts were high introducing the excellent fighting spirit of the Philippine talents. Philippines hosted the ASBC Asian Confederation Junior Boxing Championships in Puerto Princesa in 2017 which was a milestone in their boxing life and the country claimed two gold medals on home soil.
Bago City’s pride Vanesa Belarte is a newcomer in women’s boxing but she adopted the level of the competitions quickly and won the first title in Iloilo. She stopped Juezan Baltea in the semi-final of the junior pinweight (46kg) and following that success he had to raise her tempo in the final against Catherine Joy Bayabay. Belarte was better in their exchanges and she celebrated her first big title after the last gong of the final winning it unanimously.
Cebu Province’s team arrived to Iloilo with a strong team and their youngest hope in the competition Sean Oneil Abello won the title of the schoolboys 36kg. The 12-year-old boxer defeated all of his three rivals with strong performance including Bago City’s Justine Valero in the final of the Visayas Leg.
Philippines have got always tough boxers in the junior age groups and all of the five winners of the Visayas Leg could be competitive in the international stage as well. Darwin Sevillano was the most experienced boxer at the junior pinweight (46kg) and he realized his gold medal chances following his success over Dante Montales. The second junior title of the event was taken by Fernando Lacana Jr. who knocked out his final rival Bienjemar Codoy.
Following the competition’s lone KO, Cebu Province’s JM Andrejas won the gold medal of the junior flyweight (50kg) after beating Ruben Borcelo stopping his rival in the second round. Arielle Garth Llamas defeated Kim Tomi-As in the final of the light bantamweight (52kg) before Geovane Rosalina was too strong for Val Baldestoy in the title contest of the junior bantamweight (54kg).

List of the winners in the Philippine Batang Pinoy Championships Visayas Leg
Junior Girls 46kg: Vanesa Belarte
Schoolboys 36kg: Sean Oneil Abello
Junior Boys 46kg: Darwin Sevillano
Junior Boys 48kg: Fernando Lacana Jr.
Junior Boys 50kg: JM Andrejas
Junior Boys 52kg: Arielle Garth Llamas
Junior Boys 54kg: Geovane Rosalina

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