GENERAL SANTOS CITY – Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez is keynote speaker as the PSC-Pacquiao Amateur Boxing Cup kicks off today at Robinson’s Place here.
Ramirez said the General Santos City leg serves as the inaugural launch of the joint grassroots boxing program of the PSC and Senator Manny Pacquiao in coordination with the Philippine Sports Institute (PSI) and Amateur Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap).
Ramirez and Pacquiao, in a recent press conference in Manila, both have high hopes that boxing can win the country’s first Olympics gold medal.
The PSC-Pacquiao Amateur Boxing Cup was launched to discover promising amateur boxing talents in the periphery, which is the mantra of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
“The PSC, through the PSI, is focused on grassroots sports although PSI is also helping elite athletes in their high performance training with PSI national training director Marc Edward Velasco spearheading the special ops for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics,” Ramirez said during last month’s annual assessment with PSI coordinators at PhilSports Complex.
Qualifying rounds will be held starting today till April 7 in different venues. Preliminaries will be held on April 14 and 15 in Mandaluyong City while the quarterfinals is slated April 21 and 22 in Bohol next year.