Muaythai Battle of Best set at Luneta

MANILA, Philippines – Action in the 2009 Battle of the Best swings to Rizal Park tomorrow at 10 a.m. in one of the highlights of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Thailand-Philippines Diplomatic Relations.

His Excellency Kulkumut Singhara Na Ayudhaya, Thai Ambassador to the Philippines, will declare open the Muaythai Association of the Philippines (MAP) blue ribbon event while Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim will deliver a message.

The grudge match between 2008 World Muaythai Championships gold medalist Roland Claro and 2007 Asian champion Romnick Pabalate topbills the third leg of the series presented by the Royal Thai Embassy in cooperation with the City of Manila and supported by the Thai companies in the country led by PTT Corporation Philippines.

PTT Corporation of the Philippines has been MAP’s partner for three years.

Pabalate, a Dumaguete City native who settled for the bronze in last year’s world championship, knocked out Zamboanga City’s Claro, also a gold medalists in the 2004 world tilt, in the initial leg of the series at Makati Sports Club.

First Asian Martial Arts Games-bound Zamboanga City’s Jay Harold Gregorio, 2008 world championships silver medalist, and vastly improved Baguio City’s Zaidi Laruan, 2005 SEA Games silver medalist, test each other’s mettle.

2007 SEA Games silver medalists Baguio City’s Maricel Subang, Zamboanga City’s May Libao and Quezon City’s Ana Marie May are pitted against 2008 Philippine Olympic Festival medal winners Janilyn Sevilleno (Misamis Oriental), Krisna Limbaga (Dumaguete City) and Preciosa Ocaya (Laguna).