IT TOOK boxer Charly Suarez close to a decade to finally achieve his dream of making the Olympics.
And as he prepares for the biggest challenge of his career, the battle-tested veteran is using some of the toughest moments of his life as a source of motivation in a bid to give the country its first medal in 20 years in the Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.
The 27-year-old from Asuncion, Davao del Norte, had contemplated quitting the sport after sustaining injuries on both shoulders four years ago. Then a suspected slipped disc again almost forced him to retire right after surgery to his shoulders.
“I thought boxing wasn’t for me anymore,” Suarez told the Inquirer in Filipino, recalling his 18-month injury layoff in 2012. “I wanted to return to Davao, but what would I do there? The coaches helped a lot. I realized I’m still fortunate to get this opportunity (to be in the national team), so I might as well give it another shot.”
Toughened by failures
By the time Suarez, a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, returned to the ring a few months before the Asian Games, he was also toughened by past failures.
He lost at the final hurdle of qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and also came within a whisker of making the 2012 Games in London.
CHARLY Suarez: I prayed really hard. NINO JESUS ORBETA
“It was tough because I was so close to making the Olympics twice and then the injuries came,” said Suarez during a recent luncheon hosted by the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (Abap). “I prayed hard for answers. I prayed for strength.”
Coming back from his injury, Suarez won a silver medal in his first international tournament in Kazakhstan, before nailing another silver in the Asiad in Incheon, South Korea, losing to Mongolian fighter Dorjnyambuugiin Otgondalai in the finals.
The medal in the Asiad only boosted Suarez’s confidence to get another crack at an Olympics slot. And with the full backing of the Abap, Suarez finally seized his chance last month in the Asia Oceania Olympic qualifiers in Qian’an, China.
Tears of joy
After he scored a second-round technical knockout of China’s Shan Jun in the semifinals for the Olympics slot, Suarez’s shed tears of joy, all his emotions boiling over. It hardly mattered that Suarez lost to Otgondalai in the gold-medal match.
Abap executive director Ed Picson said they hope to send four more pugs to Rio via the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, in June.
Suarez said he’ll pull out all the stops to be the best fighter he can be for the Olympics. “It’s a blessing to be in the Olympics, but I know I have to work harder than ever before to win a medal,” he said.