Tañamor ready for Beijing

In the eyes of RP Cuban coach Enrique Steiner Tissert, Filipino light flyweight Harry Tañamor is now ready to slug it out in the Beijing Olympics slated Aug. 8-25.

“He’s ready, no doubt,” said Steiner of Tañamor, who is the lone Filipino boxer to qualify for the Beijing Games.

The 57-year-old Steiner, one of the two Cuban coaches tapped by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Sports Commission to handle Tañamor, based his evaluation on the Filipino pug’s strong performances in three international stints.

The 29-year-old Zamboanga City native, who qualified for the coming Olympics following a silver medal finish in last year’s World Championship in Chicago, snared a gold medal in the AIBA President’s Cup in Sinjhuang City, Chinese Taipei.

Before that, Tañamor copped a silver medal at the Roberto Balado Cup and a bronze in the Cuban Sports Olympiad that should boost his Olympic bid.

Steiner said it would have been better had Tañamor competed in the Chemistry Cup in Halle, Germany. Tañamor missed the event due to visa problems.

“He needs to fight, fight and fight and train, train and train for him to succeed in the Olympics,” said Steiner, who coached Spain from 1992-1994 before returning to his homeland to coach their national team from 1994-2002.

Asked of his prediction, Steiner said: “No, not possible, no prediction. Our job here is to train him to win any medal in the Olympics – any color.”

Steiner said Tañamor would need three wins to win a bronze, four a silver and another one a gold.

He also said the luck of the draw would also be vital since the 48-kilogram division is one of the weight classes with the most number of entries.

The PSC and ABAP also tapped another Cuban, Dagoberto Rojas Scott, 41, to help Steiner handle the country’s grassroots development program.