Draw favors 3 Asian women boxing bets

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia—The Philippines’ Josie Gabuco, Alice Kate Aparri and Nesthy Petecio will be among  82 boxers from 17 countries seeing action in the 6th Asian Women’s Boxing Championships here.

First to see action for the Philippines is Petecio, 19, who will take on Hu Yuan in the 54kg class at the Mongolian National Stadium.

Aparri, the 2010 World Championship bronze medalist, takes on another Taiwanese, Meng-Chieh Pin, in the 51kg category.

Gabuco, who like Aparri went up one rung in weight, has China’s Yukie Luo as  first opponent after earning a bye in the first round. The Puerto Princesa lass likewise took bronze in the 2008 World Championships in Ningbo, China.

Gabuco and Aparri were gold medalists in the 2011 SEA Games held in Palembang, Indonesia last year.

Delegation head and boxing association executive director Ed Picson is optimistic about the Filipinos’ chances.

“Except for Josie, I think the draw favored us today,” said Picson.  “Then again, Josie has been outdoing herself lately, so I’m also confident of her chances. Nesthy is in great shape and Alice is in her usual deadly form.”

Technical delegate for the competition is Nieva tesoro-Embuldeniya, who is married to a Sri Lanka national.  Embuldeniya has supervised countless tournaments worldwide.  Joining her is Aiba international technical official Karina Picson, also a member of the Asian Women’s Boxing Commission.

Accompanying the team are RP head coach Pat Gaspi and women’s coaches Mitchel Martinez and Violito Payla.

The tournament ends March 25.