THE cancellation of the World Qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics could be a blessing in disguise for Philippine boxing.
With two Filipino fighters ranked high in their respective divisions, prospect of qualifying more boxers to the Summer Games are looking good.
The International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force will be in charge of selecting boxers who will automatically earn berths to the July 23 to August 8 Olympics following its decision to cancel the final qualifying tournament slated this May in Paris.
The BTF, which has taken over the function of organizing boxing competitions in the Olympics following the suspension of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), is set to announce those who qualified this March.

The selection could be based on the boxer’s current world rankings, where Nesthy Petecio (featherweight) and Carlo Paalam (flyweight) are highly rated in their respective divisions.
ABAP president Ricky Vargas welcomed the latest development that was announced following a meeting among more than 30 Asian countries and led by Task Force head Morinari Watanabe of Japan. Ed Picson, the ABAP secretary-general, attended the forum.
“This might prove beneficial to our cause, since some of our boxers are ranked highly among those who have not yet qualified. I hope we get at least two more in Tokyo,” Vargas said in a statement.
The country already qualified two boxers to Tokyo in middleweight Eumir Marcial and flyweight Irish Magno during the Asia-Oceania qualifier held in Amman, Jordan just before the global pandemic struck.
Two uncompleted qualifiers for Americas and Europe, which was called off at the height of the COVID-19 rage, will push through but had to be moved back to May and June, respectively.
The BTF, according to Picson, decided to forego the World Qualifiers due to time constraints and safety concerns.
Petecio and Paalam are currently training at the Calamba bubble inside the Inspire Sports Academy along with other members of the national team that include Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, Mario Fernandez, Aira Villegas, among others.
They are set to leave for Thailand later this month to undergo a joint training camp.
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