MANILA, Philippines - The 2014 PLDT-ABAP Visayas Area Amateur Boxing tournament got under way yesterday with nine teams, including powerhouse Bago City and Cebu City, clashing for top honors in various divisions at the Maasin City gym in Maasin City, Leyte.
Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) president Ricky Vargas expressed his gratitude to Maasin Mayor Maloney Samaco for the latter’s continued support to the program which aims to scout new recruits to the national boxing pool.
“I am expressing my appreciation to Maasin City Mayor Maloney Samaco for being a staunch partner in our efforts to discover fresh boxing talents. The tournament aims to identity potential recruits to the national boxing pool under ABAP,†said Vargas.
The city was actually given a short notice to host the event but Mayor Samaco readily agreed to stage the event serving as part of the Visayas qualifying tournament.
“This tournament was supposed to be held in Tacloban last December but the city is incapable of hosting. So we looked for possible cities. But the other cities were also unavailable because of the typhoon and the earthquake while Bacolod just hosted the Batang Pinoy Finals last January. That’s when Mayor Samaco offered his city to host the event,†said Picson.