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Source: Joey Villar, philstar.com
-- The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines has put premium on strengthening its grassroots development program with hopes of producing talented young boxers that could be tapped for future international competitions.

ABAP secretary-general Patrick Gregorio yesterday said the annual National Championships would no longer be open to members of the national team or training pool to give way to younger boxers to show their wares.

“This will no longer be called the National Open. It’s going to be just the National Championships, which will be open exclusively for boxers aged 18 years and under,” Gregorio told The STAR.

“In doing this, we’re hoping we could discover talents, maybe another Manny Pacquiao or an Onyok (Mansueto Velasco),” he added.

The National Championships, which is set next month in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, will be a culmination of regional tournaments ABAP staged in Quezon, Ormoc, Panabo and Mandaluyong early in the year.

The best and the brightest from the four meets plus the talented ones who didn’t win but show potential will battle it out for a chance to earn a berth in the RP squad preparing for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Ed Picson, the ABAP executive director, cited Charly Suarez, one of the five pugs who won gold medals in the 2009 Laos Southeast Asian Games, as a product of the tournament.

“Charly (Suarez) has been in the team for two to three years now and because of his hard work and determination, he finally struck gold,” said Picson.

Gregorio said the National Championships is timely considering that ABAP is forming a team that will be fielded in a tournament in Azerbaijan in March.

The meet will serve as a gauge for the national team bound for the World Youth Olympics in Singapore months later and a possible inclusion in the World Youth Championships tentatively set in Mexico towards the end of 2010.

They may also be included in the team seeing action in the 2010 Guangzhou Games.