Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Tipon to compete in int'l tourney to silence Thais By Henry C. Villalva
JOAN Tipon, 5th Asian Games bantamweight boxing gold medalist, is scheduled to compete in an international tournament in Azerbaijan together with his teammate Violito Payla, the other RP 15th Asiad gold medalist.
This was confirmed Tuesday night to Sun.Star Bacolod by Tipon in a telephone from the RP Team's training camp in Baguio City.
"If we're allowed to compete in this tournament this will dispel rumors that we have been suspended from competing in international competitions," said the soft-spoken native of Bacolod City. "I want to go and compete so we can prove that what the Thais are spreading are lies."
He appealed to his Bacolod fans and supporters not to believe what the Thais have been saying regarding him and Payla.
The National, an English news daily in Thailand, recently ran stories speculating that both Payla and Tipon tested positive for illegal drugs during the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Thailand boxing chief Taweep Juntararot was even quoted as saying he has invited Amateur Boxing Association of Asia president Ching Kwo Wu to attend the medal presentation they are preparing for their boxers should Payla and Tipon be stripped of their golds.
Meanwhile, Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez told a recent press briefing in Manila that they are fielding Tipon and Payla in the Azerbaijan event "to prove once and for all that what the Thais are spreading are outright lies."
"They cannot just accept that (Somjit) Jongjohor and (Worapoj) Petchkoom were defeated by Payla and myself," Tipon reiterated.
The Azerbaijan event, dubbed as the Silk Road Cup and held under the supervision of AIBA, is one of the tournaments to be participated in by Filipino pugs as part of their preparations for this year's 24th Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
Roel Velasco, the 1992 Barcelona Olympiad bronze medalist from Bago City who is now a member of the RP coaching staff told Sun.Star Bacolod in a separate phone interview yesterday that "the Thais were just trying to find an excuse for their defeats to the Filipinos in the recent Asiad."
Thailand, which finished second to RP in the 2005 SEAG, predicted a five-gold medal haul in Doha but went home with just one. It finished fourth in the boxing medal tally behind Kazakhstan, China and the Philippines.
