The Philippine national boxing team training in Thailand will remain there until the runup to the Tokyo Olympics, the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) said yesterday.
Secretary general Ed Picson said the Thai boxing association is set to host national teams from various countries getting ready for Tokyo in the coming weeks.
“I was told that the national teams of Azerbaijan, Australia, Colombia and even Cuba have been invited to train there,” Picson told Daily Tribune.
As this developed, those training in Thailand will just stay there and leave the competitions in the Asian championships in Dubai from 21 May to 1 June to the other members of the national team training in the country.
Picson said those who didn’t join the Thai camp are also neck-deep in training.
Those who are in Thailand are three Tokyo-bound fighters: Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Irish Magno. The other qualifier, Eumir Marcial, is also preparing under the guidance of Gerson Nietes, a handpicked ABAP coach in Zamboanga.
Picson said Marcial, who trained under Freddie Roach at the Wild Card for six months, will be the only one to fly to Dubai from Manila.
Meanwhile, Picson said that he has written Thai counterparts requesting that the Filipino boxers be given the jab as well after it was learned that the boxers from Thailand have all been given their shots.
“Vaccinating everyone in camp is going to be safe for everyone,” Picson said, noting that while there is almost zero cases in the area where the Filipinos are housed, there remains the possibility that infection can still occur.
If everything falls into place, the Thai-based Filipinos will stay put until they are given instructions to leave for Tokyo.
