Can our Asiad boxers do a Gilas?

The scintillating performance of the Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team in the 2014 Fiba World Cup has brought with it prestige and national treasure in the form of international recognition and respect.

If we are to believe the posttournament accolades, the election of tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan to the Fiba Central Board is the most prestigious among the honors.

The Philippines was also singled out as an outstanding basketball nation by the Fiba.

It’s nothing new, but the election of the amiable Dr. Jose Raul Canlas to the Fiba medical commission is also a recognition of Filipino ingenuity and dedication.

Dr. Canlas, a sports medicine genius, has been serving in the commmission for nearly two decades with no fanfare.

In fact, the Philippine Olympic Committee may not even know this great Filipino exists.

* * *

They did it quietly, almost in secret, but the Philippine amateur boxing team has ventured in a modern scientific training and physical build-up in Australia.

The Inquirer has had to make a special request to Ed Picson, executive director of the Allied Boxing Association of the Philippines (Abap), for details on the revolutionary training.

“Yes, the Philippine boxing team was at the state-of-the-art Australian Institute of Sports (AIS). Kevin Smith of Great Britain, our former consultant, is now head boxing coach of Australia. We brought 12 boxers (eight males and two females), plus four coaches. National boxers from all over Australia were flown in specifically for our boxers.”

* * *

The Australian training was specifically for the Incheon Asian Games. The Philippines won three boxing medals-1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze-in the Guangzhou Asiad four years ago.

Anyway, it goes without saying that the Philippine national boxing team is aiming not only to improve on its medal output in the last Asiad.

There’s every sign it’s cashing in on a stronger, more scientific approach to training and physical build-up with an eye on qualifying more fighters to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

* * *

Explained Picson: “Our team underwent several tests for body mass composition and also underwent therapy sessions and a battery of tests in the Recovery Center of the Australian institute. It was truly a revolutionary scientific system, a good, very helpful experience.”

Picson did not say it, but there’s every sign the national boxing squad would go all out to make a showing as relevant and memorable as that achieved by the Gilas Pilipinas national basketball team in Spain.