Pinoy boxers touch down in Rio; go for gold
RIO DE JANEIRO — Two Filipino boxers with equal chances of winning a medal in this Rio Olympics arrived Thursday afternoon (Friday morning) from a onemonth training in the US, and declared their readiness to slug it out with the world’s finest competitors.
Light-flyweight Rogen Ladon and lightweight Charly Suarez flew in from Las Vegas via Houston accompanied by a lone coach, Nolito “Boy” Velasco. They arrived here eight days before the opening ceremony on August 5.
For both boxers, it’s their first Olympics.
“First time,” said the 22-year-old Ladon of Bago City in Negros Occidental, the birthplace of Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco, a silver medalist in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and brother Roel Velasco, bronze winner in 1992 in Barcelona.
Mansueto’s silver in the light-flyweight class was the last medal in the Olympics for the Philippines, which is fielding 12 athletes in seven sports and hoping to finally end the 20-year medal drought in the Summer Games.
Ladon is aware that the country of more than 100 million has long been searching for an Olympic hero. Under this circumstance, Filipinos, known as die-hard boxing and basketball fans, will settle for a medal of any color.
Ladon said he wants to win the gold.
“Go for gold tayo,” said Ladon, borrowing the slogan of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines headed by Ricky Vargas.
Ladon said it’s been his lifelong dream to make it to the Olympics, and follow the footsteps of the Velasco brothers. He said he did everything in training the past two years as he hoped that someday he will win an Olympic medal.
“Every athlete dreams of being in the Olympics,” said Ladon as he walked with some members of the Philippine delegation, including chef-de-mission Jose Romasanta, from the Pinoy quarters to the main dining hall of the Athletes Village.
“Step by step,” said Suarez, who will turn 28 on August 14. If he gets the breaks, the Bible-preaching native of Sawata in Davao del Norte will be fighting in the semifinals of the 60 kg weight class on his birthday, assured of a bronze.
Suarez is a two-time gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games (2009 in Laos and 2011 in Jakarta) and silver medalist in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
“I think this is my best chance to win a medal in the Olympics,” he said, adding that he was very satisfied with the training he and Ladon went through in Las Vegas and Washington.—
Philippine STAR News Service