A small Philippine boxing team is scheduled to leave for the United States on Monday, April 9, to bolster its preparations for Olympic qualifications, as well as the 2024 Paris Games.

Paris qualifiers Aira Villegas, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial comprise the squad along with Olympic hopefuls Rogen Ladon, Criztian Pitt Laurente and Hergie Bacyadan as they gear up for a training camp from April 14 to 21.

The team will train at the US Olympic Training Center in Denver, Colorado before joining the 2024 USA Boxing Multi Nation Camp.

Accompanying them are coaches Don Abnett, Ronald Chavez, Reynaldo Galido, Mitchel Martinez and Gerson Nietes Jr.

The Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) opted to send its best fighters to the extensive training camp to further beef up their preparations particularly Villegas, Petecio and Marcial, who have already secured berths to the Olympics.

Marcial earned his Olympic ticket after a silver-medal finish at last year’s Asian Games in China, while Villegas and Petecio booked seats during the first world qualifiers held in Italy last month.

A two-week training camp in Bangkok, Thailand early next month is also in the works before the final world qualification on May 23 to June 3. The lineup, however, is expected to be finalized this week.

ABAP hopes to send as many Olympic qualifiers as it can to Paris as boxing has been the source of numerous medals in the past including Petecio and Marcial, who won silver and bronze, respectively, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

PH boxers, however, are eager to turn their numerous silver and bronze medals into gold this time with hopes of following the footsteps of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who won the country’s first Olympic gold medal also in Tokyo.