Believing that boxing may be the sport where the country could win its first Olympic gold medal, organizers of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) National Games decided to include the event when it opens on Feb. 22.
President Gloria Arroyo was invited to grace the opening ceremony of the National Games, which will end on Feb. 28 at the Rizal Memorial Track Oval.
"We believe that we can win our first (Olympic) gold medal in sports that has weight divisions like boxing, taekwondo, judo and other martial arts events. So the board voted for boxing's inclusion in our calendar of events," said CHED chairman Dr. Emmanuel Angeles.
Boxing is just one of the 18 sports that will be played in the revival of the Games which was last held in Bacolod in 2004.
Other events are athletics, badminton, chess, dance sports, judo, karate-do, lawn tennis, swimming, table tennis taekwondo, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, football, sepak takraw, softball and indoor volleyball.
No overall champion will be declared in the Games but outstanding athletes, who excelled in their respected events, will earn spots in the national training pool.
Boxing will offer 12 weight classes, namely: pinweight lightflyweight, flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. |
