Cuban Olympic mentor arriving to train RP boxers

Cuban coach Raul Liranza, acknowledged as the architect of Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco’s shining silver-medal conquest in the Atlanta Olympics, will be back in town to run the last three months of preparation of the RP boxing team for the 2005 SEA Games.

Liranza, second in command in Cuba’s pool of national coaches, was scheduled to arrive in Manila Thursday but his flight was delayed for some unknown reasons.

"He’ll play a big role in our mission to do good in this coming Games," said national coach Nolito "Boy" Velasco in Tagalog.

"We’re in the final stretch of our preparation, but we don’t see problem of Señor Liranza taking over because we’ve been running the same program he left us when he went home to Cuba (after the Sydney Games)," Velasco added. "Most probably, he would just refine the program."

Re-assuming the lead role in training from George Caliwan, Liranza could have a big say on the list of boxers to be fielded in the SEAG slugfest which is to stake nine gold medals in the men’s category and five in the women’s class.

The coaching staff said the team is likely to gain the lion’s share of medals in the women’s event but could still have a tough task in a bid to beat Thailand for the overall championship.

The women’s boxing is being introduced in the 23rd edition of the biennial meet to feature close to 8,000 athletes and officials from 11 nations in the Southeast Asian region.

Team Philippines won only one gold in each of the last two stagings of the Games in Malaysia in 2001 and Vietnam in 2003.

Harry Tañamor, the country’s savior from a gold medal shutout in Vietnam, is likely to return for a crack at back-to-back SEAG championships in the light flyweight division. His tough challengers for a slot in the team are Godfrey Castro and Lyven Salazar.

Other possible RP entries are flyweights Violito Payla and Jualito Parrenas, bantamweights Joan Tipon and Junel Cantancio, featherweight Jogen Ladon, and lightweights Genibert Asadre and Anthony Marcial. The coaches said the battles for slots in the higher categories are still wild open.

Deadline of submission of lineup is on Sept. 27, and Velasco said they aren’t in a hurry filling up their roster.

"We’re still looking for international exposures for our boxers. And these tournaments will also serve as bases for our choices," said Velasco.

The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines has invitations to compete in the Senior Asian Boxing Championship in Vietnam Aug. 28-Sept. 5 and the Acropolis Cup in Greece in October.

To the minds of the boxing officials, enough foreign exposure for their fighters, the return of Liranza and the hometown crowd could give the RP team a crack at the overall championship.

The RP boxers won the championship when they captured eight of the 11 gold medals staked the last time the SEAG was held here in 1991.