VELASCO IS FIRST RP ATHLETE TO GOODWILL GAMES
Manila, June 24, 1998 - Roel Velasco, lone Filipino medallist in the World Boxing Championships, has been invited to compete in the Goodwill Games scheduled July 19-August 5 in New York.
Velasco will be the first Filipino athlete to taken part in the Goodwill Games, which was conceived by media giant Ted Turner in 1986 as an alternative to the Olympics, following the 1980 and 1984 Olympic boycott by athletic superpowers.
Meant to promote friendly athletic rivalry among ideologically-opposed nations, it's motto "United the World's Best" has attracted the world's brightest athletes.
The organizing committee for this year's Goodwill Games has sent Velasco the invitation through the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines.
Velasco was also a bronze medallist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and bested the celebrated American Gabriel Elisondo for the light flyweight gold in the 1997 Muhammad Ali Cup in Kentucky, USA.
Velasco also topped two international events -- the Italian Boxing Championship and the Balado Memorial Cup in Cuba -- to better the record of younger brother Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco's 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver medal.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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