Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines Chairman Manny V. Pangilinan was disappointed that the Philippines won’t be the substitute host of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Boxing, but also expressed his support to new host Jordan.
“The news that came out early this morning that the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Boxing that was pulled out of Wuhan, China has been awarded instead to Amman, Jordan is obviously, a disappointment,” said Pangilinan, who however expressed his appreciation to the International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force for considering the ABAP offer.
“I thank the Boxing Task Force for their kind consideration of our offer. We wish Jordan well in their hosting,” he added.
Wuhan was originally scheduled to host the Asia/Oceania qualifier from Feb. 3 to 14.
But the event was cancelled due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, forcing the Boxing Task Force to look for an alternative venue and prompting the ABAP to send communications to the IOC that it is willing to host the event.
“We are keenly considering hosting the event should the requirements be feasible,” said ABAP president Ricky Vargas in his letter to the task force.
The qualifying events for boxing are now being managed by the IOC, which suspended the sport’s world governing body AIBA last June over a range of issues including governance, ethics, refereeing and judging, as well as finance.
The BTF, however, informed the ABAP of its decision to award the hosting of the event, now slated from March 3 to 11, to Jordan
“After careful consideration of all alternatives, the BTF decided to approve the proposal from the National Olympic Committee of Jordan and have officially released a statement announcing the decision,” said Morinari Watanabe Chair of IOC Boxing Task Force.
Pangilinan, however, expressed optimism that ABAP will get its chance in the future.
There will be other opportunities (for ABAP) and we remain steadfast in our commitment to support our Boxing program with the same enthusiasm we have shown the past 10 years,” said Pangilinan. “As I committed to ABAP President Ricky Vargas and Secretary-General Ed Picson when we first decided to tender an offer to host the Asia-Oceania Qualifiers, we will continue to back our boxers’ drive for glory in the Olympics.”
The ABAP Chairman also thanked the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Sports Commission, IOC representative to the Philippines Mikee Jaworski and the boxing public for supporting its bid.