Team Africa Visits Baguio City for Friendship Boxing Match

Baguio City – A friendship boxing match sanctioned by the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) was held at the Igorot Garden Park which started at 11:30 am this 21 July 2008 (local time). A boxing team from Africa which composed of Zambia, Mauritius, Madagascar, Namibia and Congo faced the amateur boxers from the Philippines.

The Beijing bound African boxers were invited by ABAP to show their wares against local amateur boxers who are preparing for the Youth Amateur Boxing Championship to be held in Guadalajara Mexico this coming October 2008. The boxers from Africa gamely exchanged blows with their Filipino counterparts inside the ring which delighted the big crowds gathered at the park.

The friendship match was the first for the African team to play their game in front of the locals particularly the residents of Baguio City who welcomed the visitors by mingling with them before and after the match. I even talked to one of them who is from Zambia and gamely posed for the camera.

This sport activity arranged by ABAP in coordination with the African boxing team is a welcome gesture on the part of the Philippines to foster friendly relations not only to Africa but to all nations from around the world. Sports events can bring nations together. Of course, we remember the “Ping-pong Diplomacy” between the US and China. And hopefully the US and Iran will be having their own game like “Basketball Diplomacy” as reported by CNN days ago.