Olympic boxing qualifiers scrapped as Tokyo Games near

FILE – The Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio, left, punches Myanmar’s Oo Nwe Ni in the women’s featherweight event of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon

MANILA, Philippines — The world boxing qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics have been canceled, the International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force (BTF) announced during a virtual meeting Monday.

The BTF, which has filled in for the suspended International Boxing Association (AIBA), scrapped the qualifiers due to safety concerns and time constraints with the rescheduled Summer Games just five months away.

The tournament was originally set for May 2020 in Paris, France but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the qualifiers for the Americas and Europe will push through in May and June, respectively.

Two Filipino pugs in middleweight Eumir Marcial and women’s flyweight Irish Magno have already booked a ticket to Tokyo.

The Filipino bets are undergoing training inside a bubble at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna before leaving for Thailand in a joint training camp later this month.

Those inside the bubble are Magno, current featherweight world champion Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, Mario Fernandez, Aira Villegas and others.

Marcial, who had a rousing professional debut last December in Los Angeles, is still in the United States.

Despite the cancelation, the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) expects more Filipino boxers to join Marcial and Magno in Tokyo.

“This might prove beneficial to our cause since some of our boxers are ranked highly among those who have not yet qualified. I hope we get at least two more in Tokyo,” said ABAP president Ricky Vargas.

The BTF is expected to officially announce the names of those who qualified for Tokyo next March.