THE top honcho of the country’s boxing association expressed utter disappointment in the Philippines’ failed bid to bring here the Asia-Oceania Boxing Qualifying Tournament for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Manny V. Pangilinan, chairman of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP), believes the country has more than enough logistics to host the weeklong event that was originally set to be staged in Wuhan, China until the sudden outbreak of the corona virus resulted in the lockdown of the entire Chinese province.
Amman, Jordan was chosen as the new host of the qualifier which will now be held from March 3 to 11.
“The news that came out early that the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for boxing that was pulled out of Wuhan, China has been awarded instead to Amman, Jordan, is obviously a disappointment,” said Pangilinan in a statement released to the media Saturday.
“We were prepared to fully support the hosting and would have mobilized all resources available toward that end.”
Aside from the Philippines, other countries which expressed intention to host the meet were Thailand and India.
Nonetheless, Pangilinan was grateful to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for considering the offer made by ABAP coursed through secretary-general Ed Picson and fully supported by association president Ricky Vargas and endorsed by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) under president Bambol Tolentino.

“I thank the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Boxing Task Force for their kind consideration of our offer. We wish Jordan well in its hosting,” said Pangilinan.
“I also wish to convey our appreciation to those who supported our bid to host, notably the POC, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), IOC representative to the Philippines Ms. Mikee Jaworski, and the public at large.”
At the same time, Pangilinan said the failed hosting bid won’t stop ABAP from supporting the Filipino pugs’ campaign to qualify in the Tokyo Olympics.
“There will be other opportunities and we remain steadfast in our commitment to support our boxing program with the same enthusiasm we have shown the past ten years,” stressed Pangilinan.
“As I committed to ABAP president Ricky Vargas and secretary-general Ed Picson when we first decided to tender an offer to host the Asia-Oceania qualifiers, we will continue to back our boxers’ drive for glory in the Olympics.”
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