PLDT-ABAP boxers off to slugfest in Russia

Seven months before the 27th Myanmar Southeast Asian Games, the PLDT-ABAP boxing team is getting a taste of ringside Russian roulette. A six-man squad is scheduled to wade into a European arena for the Konstantin Korotkov Memorial International Boxing tournament set May 14-20 at Khabarovsk, Russia. Khabarovsk is the largest city and the administrative center of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located 30 kilometers from the Chinese border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about 800 kilometers north of Vladivostok. Rogen Ladon (49kgs), Ian Clark Baustista (52kgs), Mario Fernandez (56kgs), Junel Cantancio (60kgs), World Youth champion Eumir Felix Marcial (64kgs) and Wilfredo Lopez (69kgs) will trade their homegrown talent and skills with practitioners of the sweet science from that bone-chilling part of the world. They will be accompanied by national coaches Nolito Velasco and Elmer Pamisa and ABAP executive director Ed Picson, team manager. “Looking ahead to the Myanmar Southeast Asian Games, this tournament is an integral part of our PLDT-ABAP boxers’ overall preparation for that competition,” said ABAP president Ricky Vargas, also the head of Maynilad Water. The six boxers, along with six ther colleagues, are currently in Cebu where they will undergo extensive training until May 9. The six are London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga, World Junior bronze medalist Jade Bornea, Nico Magliquian, Dennis Galvan, Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar, and James Palicte. “We’ve put together a more elaborate training program for our boxers,” said Picson. “And in the Cebu camp, we will find out who among them can rise to the challenge.” Several more international tournaments are in ABAP’s calendar of activities before the Myanmar competition. Under consideration are the following: the China Open for men and women in Guiyang (June 16-24), ASBC Boxing Championship for elite men in Amman, Jordan (June 30-July 9), 3rd International Boxing Women’s Tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan (Aug. 6-12), Taipei City Boxing Tournament (Aug. 14-21), AIBA Junior World in Kiev, Ukraine (Aug. 17-26), AIBA World Boxing Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan (Oct. 4-20), and the Tammer Cup for elite men in Tampere, Finland (Nov. 21-24)