AMATEUR BOXING FACES INTERNATIONAL
SANCTIONS
Manila, May 8, 1998 -
The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) may lose its international
stature for dissolving its team which it had committed to the World Cup
eliminations which began this week in Bangkok.
The association also stands to lose its membership in the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) which is set to verify ABAP president Manny Lopez's claims that his athletes abandoned camp in alleged protest over allowances.
According to Lopez, 36 members of the national team walked out of the camp to express their dissatisfaction over the reduced allowances they were getting from the Philippine Sports Commission.
World Cup silver medallist Rhoel Velasco, however, said earlier that the boxers were told to go in active rest. His statement belied the abandonment story of Lopez.
The RP boxers, including winners in the recent Mayor's Cup, were supposed to square off with the 12 finishers of the Thailand King's Cup, with the winners going to the World Cup set in Beijing next month.
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