MANILA—Hoping to emulate the feat of AIBA World Junior Boxing Championship gold medalist Eumir Felix Marcial, the five-man PLDT-Smart team will see action in the Asian Championships determined to bag medals.
“If Eumir can do it, I see no reason why our elite boxers can’t,” said national mentor Pat Gaspi in Tuesday’s PSA Forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue.
Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Rey Saludar (52 kg) spearheads the team that will leave Wednesday for the Asian Championships slated Aug. 5 to 12 in Inchon, South Korea.
Also present at the Forum presented by Smart, Pagcor, Outlast Battery and Shakey’s were boxers Rolando Tacuyan (64 kg), Charly Suarez (60 kg), Wilfredo Lopez (69 kg) and Joan Tipon (56 kg) and coaches Ronald Chavez and Roel Velasco.
“We’ve been getting all the support we need from the Abap leadership and there’s no reason for us not to perform very well,” said Chavez.
The 15-year-old Marcial, who punched his way to the gold in the recent world juniors in Astana, Kazakhstan, also attended the Forum.
He thanked Abap chair Manny V. Pangilinan for the P300,000 he got as incentive for winning the gold.