MANILA, Philippines ? Six Olympic hopefuls led by 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar leave for the AIBA World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan Thursday to vie for slots to the 2012 London Summer Games.
Except in super heavyweight and heavyweight from where six each will be picked, the top 10 boxers from the different weight divisions in the tournament set Sept. 26 to Oct. 8 will advance to the London Olympiad.
An Asian Olympic qualifying tournament is scheduled in Kazakhstan early next year, but it is in the World Championship where the Filipino boxers have their best shot.
Saludar will compete in the 52-kilogram flyweight division. Joining him are light flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga (46-49 kgs), bantamweight Joan Tipon (56kgs), lightweight Charly Suarez (60kgs), light welterweight Rolando Tacuyan (64kgs), and welterweight Delfin Boholst (69kgs).
Tipon, a gold medal winner in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, was tapped to replace Junel Cantancio who went down with the flu.
In 1996, Mansueto ?Onyok? Velasco brought home the silver medal from the Atlanta Olympics, and four years before him elder brother Roel settled for the bronze in Barcelona.
In Seoul in 1988, Leopoldo Serrantes managed a bronze medal, and in Tokyo, back in 1964, Anthony Villanueva took the silver medal, an improvement from the bronze medal finish of his father, Jose, during the 1932 Olympic in Los Angeles.
Harry Tanamor qualified to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after a silver medal performance in the AIBA World Championship in Chicago.
But he fell to a counterpunching opponent from Ghana in the first round, dashing yet another dream of a first-ever Olympic gold medal for the country.
