The president of the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand, Gen. Taweep Jantararoj says the Philippine boxing team will be accepted as competitors in the Olympic qualifying event in Bangkok from January 25 to February 2.
In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today, Gen. Taweep said ?I can accept the Philippine team? for the tournament.
The Thai press earlier reported that he had disqualified the Filipino boxers from competing because they had failed to beat the deadline for the submission of entry form by numbers which was December 1, 2007 and the entry forms by name by December 20. The general as quoted in the Bangkok Post as saying ?their documents did not reach us by those dates. We received it earlier this month which was too late.
He claimed ?the Thai press misunderstood this case. They said I stopped the Philippne team from competing. That is not true. I saidokay I will accept the Philippine team but I will check the rooms for the team because there are too many people coming.?
Taweep said we have ?only one hotel with 15 rooms for the boxers and the RP team,? indicating that the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines would have to downsize its delegation.
The head of the Thai amateur boxing association which is hosting the Olympic qualifier said ?I will send a letter to Philippines to accept the team to come to Thailand. Its no problem.?
He said ?I know everything about boxing in the past. Its not good for us ? the Filipino and Thai people ? because when we compete its good for boxing. ?
Gen. Taweep said the Philippines ?misunderstood this case. Manny Lopez you come to Thailand, no problem. This is good for every country not only the Philippines but for our friendly country also.?
He said that in the finals of the last Southeast Asian Games ?I don?t know why Lopez didn?t allow his team to box. That?s not fair.? The Filipinos forfeited six of the seven possible gold medals in protest against biased judging in the women?s finals the previous day.
Gen. Tawep stressed that if he is upset with the decision ?he can protest but you have to fight first.? He noted that in the finals one fighter from Laos and two from Malaysia were allowed to fight ?because they knew they were not as good as the Thai boxers and they fought for the spirit of sports.?
He said in the case of the Philippines ?there would have been no problem if they let the boxers fight. Gen. Taweep indicated that Lopez should have allowed the boxers to fight and AIBA president Dr. Ching Kuo Wu would decide ?if the decision was good or not good and it would have been a success for the Philippines and everyone else.?
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