Negrense Olympic boxer donates medal to PSC

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - Seoul Olympics boxing bronze medalist Leopoldo Serrantes of Candoni, Negros Occidental has donated his Olympic boxing bronze medal to the RP Sports Museum, a report from Manila said Wednesday. Serrantes, who is presently confined at the Veterans Memorial Hospital in Manila, turned over his medal to Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez through his wife Divina. Serrantes is one of three Negrense amateur boxers who brought home boxing medals from their Olympic campaigns. The others are brothers Roel and Mansueto 'Onyok' Velasco of Bago City. Roel earned a bronze medal for the country in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics while Mansueto settled for the silver in a controversial bout during 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The country continues to pin its Olympic medal hopes on its boxers for the coming 2008 Beijing Olympiad in August although only one - Harry Tañamor, flyweight, has qualified for the Beijing summer games after he finished with a silver during the AIBA World Championships last year in Chicago. The other Negrense boxers - Joan Tipon of Barangay Banago, Bacolod City and Godfrey Castro of Cadiz City - failed in their bid to earn a slot in the Beijing Olympics when they dropped their assignments in the last Asian Olympic qualifying event recently in Kazakhstan. Both Tipon and Castro came home with medals during the 2006 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar with Tipon bringing home the bantamweight gold while Castro pocketed the bronze in the lightfly category. Various Negrense amateur boxing quarters have started plotting moves to revive the amateur boxing development program in the province, which used to provide quality boxers to the national training pool of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP). Bago City Mayor Ramon Torres has started to revive Bago's boxing program by first renovating the ABAP Gym and tapping Olympian Leopoldo Cantancio to head its coaching staff. - Sun.Star Bacolod