THE Negros Amateur Boxing Association (NABA) headed by former Bacolod councilor and now Games and Amusement Board (GAB) commissioner Juan Ramon ?Monju? Guanzon wants to take advantage of the countrywide talent search being launched by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) now under the leadership of Ricky Vargas as president and telecommunications tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan as chairman.
Fresh from its successful staging here last January 17-24 of the Smart National Open, Youth & Women’s Amateur Boxing Championship, ABAP is set to embark on a countrywide talent search starting with the Visayas leg on March 22-28 in Cebu City.
“We look forward to this talent search since this is another opportunity for us to expose our promising young boxers,” Guanzon told Sun.Star in an interview Wednesday.
Guanzon had been advocating for an honest-to-goodness grassroots development program in the countryside where focus will be on the discovery and training of promising young talents who can be future potentials for the national training pool.
The NABA official was reacting to reports from Manila where newly named ABAP executive director Ed Picson said “these tournaments and the succeeding ones are earmarked to flush out young and talented boxers in the countryside.”
The Visayas tourney, followed by two more in Luzon to be staged on April 14-19, and in Mindanao on May 10-16, is meant to kick off the extensive grassroots program as envisioned by Pangilinan, in the quest for RP’s first ever Olympic gold.
NABA, Guanzon said, is also looking forward to reaping the rewards of Bacolod’s choice as the ABAP regional training center for Western Visayas, as announced during the ABAP national congress here last month. (HCV)
