Five weeks before the first qualifier for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics gets going, the national boxers are still stuck with their mother units in the military and can’t start training.
Ed Picson, executive director of the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines, said Monday the boxers need a release order from the Armed Forces of the Philippines so they can return to the national team.
He said London Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga and the other soldier-boxers are being awaited at their training camp in Baguio City.
The boxers will see action in the ASBC Elite Men’s Championships—a qualifier for the Aiba World Boxing Championship in Doha, Qatar, in October where Olympic tickets are at stake—on Aug. 25 in Bangkok.
“We have made an appeal to the POC (Philippine Olympic Committee) to help us,” said Picson. “Time is running out and our boxers have to start training as soon as possible.”
The other solider-boxers are Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar, middleweight Wilfredo Lopez, lightweight James Palicte, welterweight Eumir Felix Marcial, light welter Dennis Galvan, lightweight Junel Cantancio, light welterweight Nico Magliquian and bantamweight Mario Fernandez.