LONDON—The morning before Mark Anthony Barriga was to go up the ring against Kazakhstan’s Birzhan Zhakypov in the round of 16 of the London Olympics boxing competition, two officials of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines were among the many Filipinos scrambling for tickets to the ExCel South Arena.
Ricky Vargas, president of Maynilad Water Services and president of Abap, arrived with Pato Gregorio, secretary general of Abap, for Barriga’s fight.
The problem: There were no tickets available for the sold-out boxing competitions. Manny Lopez, the Philippine Olympic delegation’s chief of mission, was busy in the morning looking for tickets for them.
They were not the only ones who had wanted to go to the fight but had no tickets. Many Filipinos, local residents and visitors alike, will have to watch the fight on television.
Among them is a representative from the south, who had requested the Philippine delegation through the Embassy here, to secure the tickets.