ABAP rues decision to drop SEAG events

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is as helpless as the Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines (ABAP) in lobbying for the inclusion of two weight divisions that were scrapped from this year’s SEA Games calendar of events.

“Malabo na (It’s bleak),” said POC first vice president Jose Romasanta after ABAP executive director Ed Picson bared that the men’s 60 kg and 69 kg divisions were also removed from the list of events to be played in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian organizers earlier took women’s boxing out of the list along with women’s billiards and women’s weightlifting. These are events where the Philippines is capable of winning a handful gold medals.

The Philippines finished sixth overall in the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore, and needs to win every gold medal that it can to move up in the standings as it prepares to host the 2019 edition.

Picson said the Malaysians rubbed salt to injury by removing the two weight classes where Filipinos Charly Suarez (60 kg) and Felix Marcial (69 kg) have won gold medals in the SEA Games.

The POC task force tried its best to lobby for the inclusion of the events, particularly in the women’s weightlifting where Hidylin Diaz, the silver medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics, was supposed to compete.

Romasanta said as much as the POC wanted to, the SEA Games Federation has already approved the list of events (405 in 38 sports) to be played in Kuala Lumpur from Aug. 19 to 31.

Besides, one country cannot do it alone and lobby for the inclusion of any event, and must have the support of majority of the 11 member countries.

“The other members are not too hot (in lobbying) because they themselves have little chances in these events. Wala din sila pang-laban eh,” said Romasanta, adding that the list of events were finalized months before.

“By this time, organizers have printed the conditions of play. The events have been finalized by the federation,” he said.

Picson said the ABAP does not have the authority to lobby for the inclusion of their events and going directly to the international federation (AIBA) is not the proper course of action.

“I don’t think so. We don’t have the authority to communicate with the SEA Games organizing committee,” he said.

The ABAP official said he had a chance to communicate with his counterpart in Malaysia recently but was told that he should even be thankful that boxing was included in the 2017 calendar.

In the SEA Games, host countries are given the free hand in selecting the sports to be played, whether by including or removing events, just to enhance their chances of finishing high in the medal standings.

Jose Cojuangco, the POC president, said the practice has gone out of hand and host countries have exploited the privilege to the extent of removing Olympic sports in the SEAG calendar.

“This has to stop,” said Cojuangco, still batting for the permanent inclusion of Olympic sports in the SEA Games calendar.

But POC sec-gen Steve Hontiveros is not losing all hope.
“We will do our best to have them included, but there are no guarantees. They (ABAP) should talk with their counterparts in Malaysia. The weightlifting and boxing associations in Malaysia could endorse to the organizing committee that these events be included,” he said.