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FOR only the second time in 76 years, only one boxer will represent
the Philippines in the Olympics.
After a failed bid to secure a berth in the
last Olympic qualifier, Amateur Boxing Association of the
Philippines (ABAP) president Manny Lopez said it was a “sad day
for Philippine boxing.”
That was an understatement.
Only light-flyweight Harry Tañamor gained a
ticket to the Beijing Games set on August 8 to 24 after three
Olympic qualifying tournaments.
In the 1960 Rome Olympics, flyweight Segundo
Malalad single-handedly bannered the country in the ring. That was
the only time that a solitary boxer represented the country in the
quadrennial meet since its participation in the 1932 Los Angeles
Olympics, until this year.
It is by no means a good sign for the
Philippines.
For the past few editions of the Games, boxing
is the only sport where the country is at least contending for a
medal.
No wonder, the Philippines was shutout in the
1960 Games.
With Malalad losing to an Argentine on his
opening bout, 1-4, the 41-athlete national contingent came home
empty handed.
The country saw action in seven sports that
Olympiad—boxing, athletics, basketball, shooting, swimming,
weightlifting and yachting.
The late Adolfo Feliciano came nearest to the
podium when he ended up sixth in the free rifle event. Sprinter Mona
Sulaiman, now employed at the Philippine Sports Commission, wound up
second in her heat of the 100 meters, but her campaign lasted only
up to the quarterfinal round.
Weightlifter Alberto Nogar who finished eighth
in the featherweight class, while the basketball team made up of
Emilio Achacoso, Kurt Bachmann, Carlos Badion, Narciso Bernardo,
Geronimo Cruz, Alfonso Marquez, Edgardo Ocampo, Constanciso Ortiz,
Eduardo Pacheco, Cristobal Ramas, Edgardo Roque and Roberto Yburan
finished 11th, a four-notch improvement from the 1956 Melbourne
Olympics.
The country’s only two silver medals in the
Games were courtesy of boxers—Anthony Villanueva during the 1964
Tokyo Olympics and Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco in the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics.
The boxers also accounted for three of the
seven bronze medals won by Filipinos in the Olympics. Jose
“Cely” Villanueva, Anthony’s father, won it in 1932 while
Leopoldo Serrantes and Onyok’s elder brother Roel did the
trick in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1992 Barcelona Olympics,
respectively.
Tañamor, who will be seeing action in his
second Olympics following his stint in Athens four years ago, got
his slot in last year’s world championship in Chicago, which
served as the first of three Olympic qualifying tournaments
organized by the International Amateur Boxing Association.
The other qualifiers were held in Bangkok,
Thailand, early this year and in Astana, Kazakhstan, last week.
The anemic showing of the Filipino boxers put
to waste the full support thrown by government and private sectors
to their training and preparations.
The Philippine Sports Commission and Smart have
combined resources to supply the needs of the boxers and get two
Cuban coaches to augment their preparations.
--Eddie Alinea
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