Former Olympic boxer Leopoldo Serantes (left). PHOTO COURTESY OF CHOOKS TO GO
MANILA, Philippines–In the year the country celebrated its finest Olympic campaign to date, it lost one of the few that shone during the lean years.
Leopoldo Serantes salvaged a boxing bronze medal in the 1988 Seoul Games, ending a 24-year medal drought for the Philippines back then.
His daughter Leodelyn on Wednesday confirmed his demise at age of 59 while confined in the intensive care unit of the Veteran Memorial Hospital in Quezon City due to chronic pulmonary disease.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒
March 15, 1962 – September 1, 2021• 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics Bronze Medalist (Boxing – Light Flyweight)
• 1985 & 1987 Southeast Asian Games Gold Medalist (Boxing- Light Flyweight)
• Philippine Sports Hall of Famer pic.twitter.com/gKsnBugqMn— Philippine Sports Commission (@psc_gov) September 1, 2021
She is asking for help to bring his remains back to their home in Dasmarinas, Cavite.
The Philippine Sports Commission vowed to extend assistance to the family of Serantes who gave the country its first medal in the Olympics since Anthony Villanueva’s silver 24 years before.
“Our prayers for his soul. May Pol rest in peace,” said PSC chair Butch Ramirez.
Serantes, who fights in the light flyweight division, won the gold medals in the 1985 and 1987 Southeast Asian Games. He was installed in the PSC Sports Philippine Hall of Fame.
Serantes was in and out of the hospital due to the illness. And only recently, his plight got the attention of a private corporation who pledged to give him P100,000 assistance monthly.