MANILA, 23 January 2004 — Violito Payla defeated South Korea’s Kisuk Kim to capture the flyweight gold medal in the 22nd Asian Boxing Championship at the Puerto Princesa Coliseum in Palawan.
Payla butchered Kim with an array of combinations to win the title, scoring a huge 25-18 win in front of an appreciative crowd.
Already assured of a slot to the Athens Olympics in August after a convincing semifinal victory over Tulashboy Doniyorov, Payla stepped on the ring oozing with confidence and remained focused despite the antics of the Korean.
Comebacking Romeo Brin made it two golds for the Philippines, ruling the light middleweight title at the expense of Uzbekistan’s Dilshod Mahmunov 32-28.
But the third Pinoy pug in the finals, middleweight Christopher Camat, badly lost to Goulikin Gennady of Kazakstan, their fight stopped by RP coach Pat Gaspi in the second round. Like Payla and Brin, Camat has already secured an Olympics berth.
Mahmunov, former Asian and world lightweight titlist, tried to make it a mirror match-sticking his left and Brin raises his and raising his left and raising his left and the Filipino raises his-but failed to duplicate the 30-year-old Filipino’s solid hits.
The Uzbek copied Brin’s routine opening move of punching the air at the start of every round, drawing laughter from the crowd and got louder cheers when he got stunned with a quick straight to the face while trying to mirror Brin’s cocky sideway stance.
Court Padlocks Basketball Office
The Manila Regional Trial Court has issued a restraining order against a group calling itself as the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP), effectively barring its officials from functioning as the National Sports Association (NSA) for the sport.
In what is the strongest stance yet by the legitimate Basketball Association of the Philippines Inc. (BAPI) led by Nic Jorge, the court also ruled to keep the BAP office locked and ordered its officials to refrain from misrepresenting themselves as NSA officials for basketball.
Associate Judge Enrico Lanzanas of Manila RTC Branch 7 also enjoined the illegitimate BAP officials — Graham Lim, Quintellano Literal, Christian Tan, Ariel Bermeo, Gil Reglo, former president Godofredo Jalasco and John Doe — to refrain from using “the corporate name, symbol, equipment, supplies and office” provided for by government at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
The court also granted the plea of lawyer Cecilia Cinco, counsel of the legitimate BAP Inc. led by secretary general Nic Jorge, to order the group of Lim and Literal to stop “usurping the powers, functions, duties and privileges of the NSA for basketball which are now exercised, performed and enjoyed by the BAPI.”
As a result, the court also ordered the BAP to refrain from holding the Metro Manila eliminations of the National Inter-Collegiate Championship at the Rizal Memorial coliseum.
Jorge and his lawyer also accompanied court sheriff Alex Ilagan, who enforced the order to BAP officials and referees.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Eric Buhain said the agency has no choice but to recognize the court order even as he ordered his executive director Edgardo Mateo to enforce a round-the-clock monitoring of the BAP office to ensure no one would violate the court order.
Manila to Host Asian Chess Meet
World-class chess returns to the country with the staging of the 14th Asian Cities Chess Team championship from March 20 to 28 in Manila where over 40 countries are expected to vie for the prestigious Dubai Cup.
“The hosting of the 14th Asian Cities Team championship is another big coup for us. This is a recognition of our ability to organize an international even of this magnitude,” said Mat Defensor, president of the organizing National Chess Federation of the Philippines.
To ensure the success of the event, Defensor has appointed Casto Abundo, World Chess Federation Ratings Administrator and International Arbiter, as tournament project director.
“With Abundo taking charge, I know the event is in capable hands,” Defensor said.
According to Abundo, the competition is open to teams from the FIDE Asian-Oceania Zones.
Abundo said invitations have been seen to Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka; Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, China, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
This early, Kazakhstan has already confirmed its participation in the tournament, Abundo added.
Countries are allowed to field as many as three teams in the Asian Cities Championship, while the Philippines, as host, will have four teams-Manila, Mandaluyong, Pasay and Tanauan-competing.
All four RP squads were among the topnotchers in the last Inter-Cities competition held last October and will be bannered by the country’s top woodpushers led by Grandmasters Eugene Torre, Joey Antonio and Bong Villamayor and International Masters Mark Park Paragua and Ronald Dableo, the reigning Asian Zonal and national champion.
Coming on the heels of the country’s fruitful stint in the last Vietnam Southeast Asian Games where the Filipinos won three gold medals, Defensor said he is looking forward to a good showing by the RP campaigners.
Defending the crown is the Kazakhstan city of Pavlodar, which has won the Dubai Cup twice in a row — 2000 and 2002 — with a team led by GMs Pavel Kotsur, Evgeny Vladmirov and Alibek Ibragimov.
Cash prizes totalling 300,000 pesos are up for grabs, aside from the coveted Dubai Cup, a handsome trophy made of pure gold and silver that weighs nearly five kilos and costs fifty thousand dirhams (roughly .75 million pesos). The Dubai Cup was first awarded in 1989 when the competition was held in the United Arab Emirates City.
Athletics Body Beefs Up Roster for 2005 Games
Athletics president Go Teng Kok, setting his sights on the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, has ordered his coaches to recruit more potential national athletes to bolster the country’s medal chances in the coming biennial games.
Go directed the coaches to add 26 more athletes to the athletics pool, now numbering 52. Of the 52, 35 athletes saw action in the Vietnam SEA Games last month.
He said the athletics federation will concentrate on 26 of 46 events likely to be held in the 2005 SEA Games.
Go noted the Vietnamese and Thai delegations had at least five athletes competing in one event in Vietnam, thus giving them more chances of landing a medal.
Although the Philippines only had two entries per event, Filipino tracksters did well, capturing eight golds highlighted by a record-breaking run by Eduardo Buenavista in the 10,000 meters.
Aside from Buenavista, the other gold medalists were Lerma Bulauitan Gabito (long jump), Arnel Fereira (hammer throw), Rene Herrera (3,000 steeplechase), John Lozada (1,500-m), Ernie Candelario (400-m), Allan Ballester (marathon) and Danilo Fresnido (javelin).
GAB to Require CT Scan for New Boxers
The Games and Amusements Board (GAB) will begin to carry out its mandatory computerized tomography imaging tests or CT scan on new boxers beginning this year.
Commissioner and lawyer Emmanuel Palabrica said that the inclusion of neophyte professional boxers among those who are required to take CT scan allows the board to have “a point of reference” with regards to their boxer’s health history.
“We have to have a beginning...to own records from the time the boxers started, specifically those concerning head injuries,” said Palabrica. “A boxer has to be cleared medically when he decides to apply for a license.” A CT scan or a computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) obtains images of parts of the body that cannot be seen on a standard x-ray. These scans often result in earlier diagnosis and more successful treatment of many diseases.
Together with the new pros, boxers who are attempting to return to active duty will also be subjected to the painless x-ray procedure.
