HAMBURG, Germany – The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) wants to set up training camp in Kazakhstan, another hotbed of top-level boxing, in line with its buildup for the 2018 Asian Games.
Kazakhstan, which delivered one gold medal in the recent AIBA World Championship, has assured ABAP executive director Ed Picson that it will open up its doors to Filipino fighters gearing up for the Jakarta Games scheduled late August to early-September.
“I have talked with Kazakhstan boxing’s officer for international affairs about this,” Picson said on Sunday as the Philippine squad prepared to head back to Manila after seeing light-flyweight Rogen Ladon and fly Dannel Maamo get eliminated in the preliminaries.
Picson remains upbeat, though, that a solid preparation, consisting of an overseas training camp, specifically in Kazakhstan, or in any other country with a winning track record, holds the key to striking gold in Jakarta.
At the end of the nine-day slugfest that drew the participation of 245 boxers from almost 80 countries, Cuba reclaimed its old glory by winning five of the available ten gold medals.
Like Kazakhstan, also winning a gold apiece were France, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Ladon’s group mate at light-fly, Joahnys Argilagos, emerged as champion, while Yosbany Veitia, who eliminated Maamo in their flyweight round-of-16 clash, also ruled the division.
The Philippines got a silver medal and three bronzes during the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
The ABAP hopes to send a team to Jakarta that will perform much better than the one that competed four years ago in Incheon.
