BY CHRISTINE MONCADA
BACOLOD CITY. — Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, also the
first vice president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, on
Sunday agreed with boxing godfather Manny V. Pangilinan that
the country’s amateur boxing program should be reviewed in the
light of the Philippine debacle in the recent Asian Olympic
qualifying in Thailand.
However, Puentevella, a one-time
commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission, stressed
this is not the right time to point accusing fingers.
He said the five-man boxing team’s failure
to clinch a berth in the Beijing Olympics in the Bangkok
qualifying is all the more reason for the PSC, Amateur Boxing
Association of the Philippines and Pangilinan to continue
buckling down to serious work and push for at least two Cuban
coaches to handle the country’s preparation for the
quadrennial event set Aug. 8 to 24.
"I can’t blame MVP if he was disappointed
because when you think about it the Thais already have an
advantage over us since this early they have earned eight
tickets to Beijing. Sa coaching staff pa lang talo na tayo
kasi may Cuban coach na ang Thailand," he said.
Pangilinan, a telecommunications mogul,
expressed disappointment after the five-strong RP team laid a
big fat egg in the Olympic qualifying in Bangkok a few weeks
back.
"We need to follow the Cuban way and to do
that we need to get a Cuban coach. Let’s be humble enough to
admit the Cubans are doing something right. The Philippines
has more people than Cuba. How come they have 40 gold medals
in the Olympics and we have none?" Puentevella said.
The same question may have been ringing in
President Arroyo’s ear when she directed PSC Chairman William
Ramirez to coordinate with Cuba Ambassador to the Philippines
Jorge Jimenez and ask him to allow three Cuban mentors to call
the shots for local boxers.
Ramirez and ABAP president Manny Lopez are
currently in Cuba to work on the matter. Pangilinan was
supposed to be with them but begged off at the last minute to
attend to more pressing matters.
As his small contribution to address the need to further
strengthen the base of national pool for boxing, which sports
authorities deemed as the country’s strongest chance for an
Olympic gold medal, Puen-tevella started a few months back the
1st golden Gloves Monico Cup, a tournament that aims to
discover talents in the grassroots level.
