Saturday, May 03, 2008 Negrense Olympian hits poor support for boxing By Henry C.Villalva
THE reason for the country's poor performance in the recent pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments is rooted in "poor support for boxing program which can be traced to the country's sluggish economic performance," says national boxing coach Roel Velasco.
The 1992 Barcelona Olympics bronze medallist, of Bago City, Negros Occidental
coaches the national women's team.
He said, he believes "our boxing standard stayed almost stagnant for so long. This allowed our neighbors in Asia to catch up and even overtake us."
The Negrense observed that, "While fast-growing neighbors such as China, Thailand and India poured funding into the ring, the Philippines, mired in debts, has retrenched."
"Look at China and India, they are now dominating the field. We used to make them our punching bags, now they humiliate us," Velasco said in an interview last week in Manila.
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver medallist Mansueto 'Onyok' Velasco Jr. also revealed that boxers in the national training pool get a daily food allowance of P350 ($8.33) and living allowance of not more than P 8,000 a month.
The light flyweight champion said he was also getting the same amount in the 1990s.
"How would you expect our boxers to fight better? They could not always fight with their hearts, they need something in their stomachs, too," Velasco said.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, the reputation of the Philippines as regional boxing powerhouse in Asia has plummeted to an unprecedented low as only one boxer, light flyweight Harry Tañamor, will represent the Philippines in the August 2008 Olympiad in Beijing, China, compared to the usual turnout of around five in the past.
Since the first Summer Games in 1924, the country won two silver medals and three bronze medals in Olympic boxing. Three of these medals were courtesy of Negrese boxers -- Leopoldo Serrantes, (bronze, 1988 Seoul), Roel Velasco, (bronze, 1992 Barcelona) and Mansueto Velasco, Jr. (silver, 1996 Atlanta).
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