THE Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) has instructed its athletes to go on self-imposed quarantine while faithfully following their training program on the assumption that the Olympic qualifiers and the Tokyo 2020 Games will go on as scheduled.
“Per agreement with the coaches and our [Abap] president, Ricky Vargas, we will just assume that the Olympics will push through,” Abap Secretary-General Ed Picson told the BusinessMirror on Wednesday.
Boxers who are seeking qualification for Tokyo 2020 are women’s world champion Nesthy Petecio (featherweight), James Palicte (welterweight), Ian Clark Bautista (featherweight) and Riza Pasuit (lightweight).
Two Filipino boxers—Eumir Felix Marcial (middleweight) and Irish Magno (flyweight) earned qualificiation slots for Tokyo from the recent Asian qualifiers in Amman, Jordan.
All boxers who competed in Amman, according to Picson, are currently in quarantine.
“Everyone is in quarantine. We are just advising them to keep healthy and fit. We will deal with the [team] training when this blows over,” Picson said.
The International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force canceled the continental qualifiers for the Americas in Buenos Aires, as well as the Europeans qualifiers in London that were stopped midway through on Monday night.
The final world qualifiers were also suspended indefinitely because of the new coronavirus pandemic. The Boxing Task Force will continue to evaluate the situation and will give the remaining quotas in May or June. The venue will be announced at a later date.
Picson said 16 boxers remain at the PSC’s Teachers’ Camp facility while five are at the PhilSports in Pasig City.
“The rest—also about 16 boxers—have gone home to their respective provinces,” Picson said. “And, so far, no one has ever complained of experiencing symptoms of the virus.”
With the circumstances hampering the preparation of athletes around the world, Picson said the Abap is ready for any eventuality.