Scouting key in Filipino boxers’ Paris Olympics campaign

Nesthy Petecio is headed to the Paris Olympics boxing competition. –OLYMPICS PHOTO

Because of social media, Filipino pugs climbing the Olympic ring in Paris in a couple of months know that they have been studied and carefully tracked.

With that being said, so are their opponents.

“It will all boil down to who scouts the opponents better,” said national coach Ronald Chavez in Filipino as the national boxing team takes its five Paris-bound bets to the final stretch of their buildup for the quadrennial Summer Games.

Chavez pointed out that social media has done a superb job of uncovering the tendencies of every fighter, confining a great probability of success on exceptional probing and evaluation of the enemy.

“You can always watch and study them (boxers) on YouTube, so you don’t have to keep your preparations a secret,” said Chavez.

After training resumes this weekend in Manila, Nesthy Petecio, Aira Villegas, Hergie Bacyadan and Carlo Paalam are set to leave three weeks from now for the Metz training camp in France where Eumir Marcial will join them.

They are scheduled to travel together to Germany for another camp from July 1 to July 14 together with Olympians from 22 countries, for the ultimate phase of their preparations.

“We have been invited to train there where our boxers can spar with their fellow Olympians from other countries,” said Chavez.

Paalam and Bacyadan were the latest additions to the national boxing team’s delegation to the French capital after seizing berths in the final world qualification tournament in Bangkok where Petecio and Villegas trained for a month.

Brief breather

The four of them went home on Monday, will rest for three days and resume training with Paalam continuing rehab on a shoulder that got injured in the first world qualification meet in Italy two months ago.

The 15 qualified Filipino Olympians are free to enter the Olympic village starting July 22, four days prior to the opening ceremony of the biggest sports spectacle in the world.

Paalam claimed a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the men’s 51-kilogram division before moving up the scales at 57-kg for Paris.

“His shoulder should be good by the time we reach Paris. Carlo isn’t totally familiar with his possible opponents but we will study them as we go along,” said Elmer Pamisa, Paalam’s coach since his younger days in Cagayan de Oro.

“All of them are capable of winning a medal. We just hope that they’re healthy and injury-free during the competition,” said Chavez.