NEWLY elected Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap) president Ricky Vargas Saturday said Abap “must reinvent itself, reorganize its programs and people and must be performance oriented.”
This as he stressed that the national amateur boxing association has already started consulting with boxing stakeholders in various parts of the country in its desire in order to consolidate its membership.
“We must turn from being exclusive to being inclusive,” he emphasized as he answered questions from mediamen coming from different parts of the country who attended a press conference at the Business Inn Hotel to usher in the ongoing 2009 Smart National Open Youth and Women’s amateur Boxing Championship.
Referring to the country’s dream of winning a first-ever Olympic gold possibly through boxing, Vargas said that like Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, Abap needs “a lot of hard work and a lot of prayers.”
In answer to a question as to why Filipino boxers suffer from “bad officiating” in international competitions like the SEA games, Vargas said Abap recognizes this but also wants to improve its relationship with Aiba, the international amateur boxing body, which has more accredited referees and stage more international competitions in the country in order to help remedy the situation.
The Abap head also pointed out the need to have more Filipino members of the jury in international competitions since in instances where other competing countries like Thailand have more people in the jury it means more chances of winning for their boxers.
“They have tried to introduce changes in the scoring system but that is not enough, we need more people in the jury,” Vargas pointed out.
He also said Abap plans to establish “boxing centers of excellence” in the regions in order to regionalize training, and enhance coaching capabilities by tapping more foreign trainers in the future.
