Albania aiming for gold in 2012

MANILA, Philippines - If women’s boxing is included in the 2012 London calendar, flyweight Annie Albania will be an odds-on favorite and she vowed yesterday to go all out to bag the P12 million reward that ABAP chairman Manny V. Pangilinan pledged for any Filipino fighter to win an Olympic gold medal.

Albania, 26, was the country’s only gold medalist in boxing at the 2007 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and took the silver at the World Championships in Ningbo City last November, losing a disputed 4-3 decision to China’s Can Can Ren in the finals. She also won a gold medal at the 2005 SEA Games where women’s boxing made its debut in the biennial event.

The other day, Albania decisioned Nesthy Petecio, 13-8, despite a holding violation that added two points to her opponent’s score in an ABAP-sanctioned bout at the Cantada Sports Complex in Taguig.

“My dream is to win a gold medal in the Olympics,” said Albania. “We were told women’s boxing will be included in the Asian Games for the first time next year and there are plans to introduce it in London. All I want to do is to win for my mother and give her a chance for a better life.”

Albania’s father Felizardo, a rice farmer, died of a heart attack four years ago and her mother Corazon, 59, has no means of livelihood in Banga, South Cotabato. Albania, the youngest of six, and a sister, who works as a teacher, support their widowed mother.

Albania lamented that her P15,000 monthly allowance from the Philippine Sports Commission is hardly enough to survive on. She sends an average of P5,000 a month to her mother and the rest is spent for her upkeep. Now that Albania is training full-time in Baguio, at least her food expenses are paid for. In the ABAP national pool for women boxers, 10 are quartered in Baguio and two in Manila.

Albania said she is applying for a job with the Philippine Army and the extra pay will go a long way in paying for her mother’s living expenses.

Life hasn’t been easy for Albania who was brought to Manila by track coach Jojo Posadas after claiming a gold in shot-put and a silver in the javelin throw as a high schooler in a Mindanao regional meet. Posadas took Albania to the University of the East where his wife Elma Muros is the track varsity coach. Albania went on to compete for UE, winning a cartload of track medals in the UAAP, until she graduated with a degree in physical education in 2005.

It was in 2001 when Albania showed up for boxing tryouts at the Rizal Memorial.

“I had no background in boxing but I wanted to learn,” said Albania. “Coach Roel (Velasco) offered to train me. I did boxing and track at the same time for a while until I concentrated on boxing after graduating at UE.”