THE search is on for boxers who can win medals in international meets in the coming years.
Amateur Boxing Alliance of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson said this as the ABAP focuses its energies on finding younger sets of talented athletes this year.
“There has been promising developments in the countryside. (ABAP president) Ricky Vargas said we should ramp it up with our development program in 2017,” said Picson.
Picson, in a radio interview, said that the association believes that it had a great year in 2016 after two boxers, Rogen Ladon and Charly Suarez made it to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
To get there, Ladon and Suarez won the silver medals in the flyweight and lightweight events of the Asian-Oceania Olympic qualifying event in Hebei Province in China.
Last May, Carlo Paalam of Cagayan de Oro City and Ranjo Gil Napoles of General Santos City settled for third-place finishes after absorbing setbacks against veteran foes in their respective semifinal bouts in the 2016 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships at the Astana Ice Palace in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan.
Filipino boxers then took home a gold, silver and a bronze medal in the China Open last July.
Then 16-year-old Criztian Pitt Laurente, dubbed “Little Pacquiao,” competed in Yakutsk, Russia and was cited as Best Junior Boxer in Asia by ASBC president Serik Konakbayev of Kazakhstan.
“Kung mapapansin niyo, most of our achievements for the year were from the junior boxers. The elite team focused on the Olympics. We were glad that we got medals here,” added Picson.
