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By Ruben Manahan Iv, Researcher
THE Amateur Boxing Association of
the Philippines is still waiting for Cuban coach Raul Fernandez
Liranza, who was scheduled to arrive in the country last month.
ABAP president Manny Lopez has
yet to get any word from Liranza, who will train the national boxers
for the Southeast Asian Games.
The 56-year-old Liranza handled
the training of Onyok Velasco, who delivered the country’s second
Olympic silver medal during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
Velasco reached the finals but
lost to eventual gold medalist Daniel Petrov of Bulgaria.
“We already issued his
plane ticket but until now, we haven’t heard anything from him,”
said Lopez.
Liranza, former coach of the
Cuban national team, has agreed to train the Filipino boxers not
only in the SEA Games but also in the three Olympic qualifying
tournaments scheduled next year.
“Liranza’s expertise will
definitely help our boxers,” said Lopez.
“We also want to boost our
chances of getting more slots in the Beijing Olympics that’s why
we want him to supervise our national team,” added Lopez
Meanwhile, the renovation of the
Workers’ Indoor Arena which will be the venue of the boxing
competitions during the Beijing Olympics, will be completed next
month.
Built in 1991, the Arena located
in Caoyang District in east Beijing was once among the largest
sports facilities in China’s capital.
After the renovation, it will
have 13,000 seats, including 12,000 fixed seats and 1,000 mobile
seats.
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