Sri Lankan boxers may train in Philippines

The Philippine boxing team might train with national squads from Malaysia and Sri Lanka as it gears up for the 15th Doha Asian Games, local media reported on Wednesday.

Malaysian and Sri Lankan boxers have expressed interest in having a training camp in the country, Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines President Manny Lopez was quoted by The Manila Bulletin as saying.

"They (Sri Lanka and Malaysia) have already confirmed and they really wanted to train with us," Lopez said. "We still have ongoing talks with other countries if they still wanted to join the training sessions."

Training sessions, which involve public sparring practices, will start from Nov. 1 to 15 in Baguio City. In an article from the official Asian Games website, the three Malaysian boxers that will see action in the quadrennial meet are determined to make the most out of the training here as they have been lacking good sparring matches at home.

Sri Lanka, meanwhile, has yet to provide the number of boxers it is planning to field in 15-day training.

For the Philippine team's part, Lopez said the training camp should at least make up for the little international exposures the national boxers are getting although they reportedly competed in at least six international tournaments.

The national squad, led by Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games veteran Harry Tanamor, is currently competing in the Tamer Cup in Finland.

The Philippines bagged two golds and a silver in last year's Tamer Cup.