FILE – Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio celebrates after defeating Myanmar’s Oo Nwe Ni to claim the gold medal during the 30th South East Asian Games 2019 Women’s Featherweight (57 kg). INQUIRER PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon
World champion Nesthy Petecio and Olympic-bound Irish Magno have gradually regained their form after weeks of continuous workouts and conditioning inside the training bubble created by the Philippine Sports Commission in Laguna province.
They are now ready to elevate the level of their preparation for the Tokyo Olympics after the national boxing team left on Wednesday to set up camp for six weeks in Thailand.
“Coming from a long respite, the bubble training was a big help for us. I’m sure our training in Thailand will benefit us even more,’’ said Petecio in Filipino.
According to Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (Abap) secretary general Ed Picson, the overseas training in Thailand is necessary since the national boxers are in dire need of sparring partners.
Picson added that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will announce the qualifiers from Asia in two weeks.
“There are no more world qualifiers after it was canceled last month. The IOC will decide on who will qualify based on rankings,’’ said Picson.
Petecio, the reigning women’s featherweight world champion, and light flyweight Carlo Paalam are now left to hope their lofty rankings give them a shot at joining Magno and Eumir Marcial in the Summer Games scheduled July 23 to Aug. 8.
2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympian Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, Junmilardo Ogayre, James Palicte and Marjon Pianar also packed up for Thailand as well as Riza Pasuit and Aira Villegas.
“There’s a tournament in India last week of May and we plan to participate in that tournament,’’ said Picson.
Accompanying the boxers in the Thai camp were coaches Nolito Velasco, Ronald Chavez, Elmer Pamisa, Reynaldo Galido and Australian coaching consultant Donald Abnett.
Marcial has initially expressed his desire to join the team, but eventually decided to stay in Los Angeles for his Olympic preparation under Freddie Roach while awaiting his second pro fight in the United States.