Philippine women’s boxing team goes 2-0 as Aparri smashes foe

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia—Flyweight Alice Kate Aparri made it a perfect two-for-two row for the PLDT-Abap national team with an impressive debut in the 6th Asian Women’s Boxing Championships here.

The 27 year-old Baguio lass, the most senior female boxer in the national pool, trashed hapless Pin Meng—chieh of Chinese-Taipei, 15-5.

The win came on the heels of Nesthy Petecio’s resounding 12-3 victory over another Taiwanese, Yuan Hu, in the bantamweight class on opening day Monday.

That Aparri was a three-time SEA Games gold medalist and a World Championships bronze medalist twice was not lost on Meng, who backpedaled most of the way, trying to avoid the powerful combinations from the Hotel and Restaurant Management graduate from the University of Baguio.

Light flyweight Josie Gabuco, a gold medalist in the last two SEA Games and a bronze medalist in the 2008 World Championships, gets going Wednesday against tough Yukie Luo of the People’s Republic of China.

Both fighters drew a bye in the first round of the tournament, which drew 82 participants from 17 Asian nations.

Later in the day, Petecio will try to barge in the medal round when she takes on North Korea’s (DPRK) Un Jong Choe.

Delegation head and Abap executive director Ed Picson acknowledged the tough competition in the event serving as warmup for the the women’s Olympic qualifying event in China in May.

“We’ve had relatively light assignments the first two days but now we face more serious opposition. Both Josie and Nesthy are anxious to get to the next level, however, and I like their positive attitude,” Picson said.

The PH boxers came here direct from a training camp in Muaklek, Thailand. Before that, they also had training sessions and a dual meet with Sri Lankan counterparts in Manila and Tagbilaran City.