ABAP awaits Olympic rules for Asian boxers hopefuls

MANILA, Philippines - With only lightflyweight Mark Anthony Barriga qualifying for next year’s Olympics from the recent World Championships in Baku, the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) is hoping to add more male fighters to the cast of 250 vying for 10 gold medals in London.

The quota for Asia is 56 and so far, 30 have qualified, including bantamweight Kanat Abutalipov of Kazakhstan and lightweight Wang Zhimin of China who were two of five World Series of Boxing champions to book automatic tickets. The other 28 came from the Baku qualifiers which brought in 570 fighters representing 113 countries. In all, 92 qualified from Baku, only 16 percent of those who competed.

ABAP executive director Ed Picson said he is awaiting guidelines from AIBA (Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur), the global governing body based in Lausanne, Switzerland, on how the balance of 26 slots for Asia will be determined. Asia will hold a continental qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan next year and from early indications, it seems the top two finishers in each weight class will advance to London, leaving six tickets probably to be distributed along with eight wildcards by the Tripartite Commission made up of representatives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and AIBA.

Barriga, 18, clinched his berth via the backdoor as he lost to China’s Zou Shiming, 12-5, in the round-of-16 in Baku. A win would’ve sent Barriga to London outright as under the qualifying rules, the eight quarterfinalists from lightflyweight to lightheavyweight gained automatic tickets. Aside from the quarterfinalists, AIBA added two more qualifiers from each division to include fighters who lost to the eventual finalists in the round-of-16. Since Zou went on to bag the gold in the 46-49 kilogram category, Barriga was swept in. Barriga had beaten Romania’s Stefan Caslarov, 12-5, and Ireland’s Patrick Barnes, 20-12, before bowing to Zou.

Flyweight Rey Saludar, 24, wasn’t as lucky. He finished with the same record as Barriga in Baku, beating Canada’s Tanjit Lally, 21-20, and Tajikistan’s Yusif Safoviddin, 28-12, then losing to the US’ Raushee Warren, 22-12. But Warren failed to make it to the finals, leaving Saludar out in the cold.

The only other Filipino candidate to score a win in Baku was bantamweight Joan Tipon who edged Argentina’s Alberto Melian, 13-12, in the first round of preliminaries. Tipon lost to China’s Zhang Jiawei, 17-8, in his second bout.  Lightweight Charly Suarez, lightwelterweight Rolando Tacuyan and welterweight Delfin Boholst were bundled out in their first fights.

Zou was the only Asian to win a gold in Baku. He is one of four Chinese to qualify for London. The others are Wang, lightheavyweight Fanlong Meng and heavyweight Xuanxuan Wang. Kazakhstan leads Asia in most qualifiers with six. India and Uzbekistan join China with four apiece. Thailand topped the list of Southeast Asian qualifiers with three, including two who made it via the backdoor. The Thai qualifiers are lightflyweight Kaeo Pongprayoon, flyweight Chatchai Butdee and lightweight Saylom Ardee.

If no Filipino makes it from the Asian qualifiers, there is still a wildcard ticket to hope for. The Tripartite Commission is empowered to issue at least eight wildcard slots in men’s boxing. Invitation places will be given only to NOCs with an average of six or less athletes in the particular sport in the last two Olympics. The Philippines qualifies under this requirement because in 2004, only four Filipino boxers competed (Harry Tanamor, Violito Payla, Romeo Brin, Christopher Camat) and in 2008, only Tanamor who crashed out in his opening bout to Ghana’s Manyo Plange via a 6-3 decision.

Applications for invitation places must be sent by the NOCs to the Tripartite Commission by Jan. 16 at the latest. The final allocation will be announced between May and July. The quirk is the Asian qualifiers in Kazakhstan will likely be held after Jan. 16. Still, the ABAP could submit a list of candidates for endorsement by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to the Tripartite Commission as wildcards to make the Jan. 16 deadline. Most likely to head the candidates list is Saludar since he scored two victories in Baku.

The Olympics will also introduce women’s boxing in London with three divisions (48-51 kilogram flyweight, 57-60 kilogram lightweight, 69-75 kilogram middleweight) and 36 fighters, including 11 wildcards and a slot for host England. Asia has a quota of only eight among the 36. The Olympic qualifiers will be the World Championships in Chongqing, China, in May with the top eight finishers in each of the three weight classes earning outright tickets to London. The ABAP could also submit a list of wildcard candidates for women’s boxing to the POC to beat the Jan. 16 deadline.