City could be Olympic base for Filipino boxing team

Date Published: 30-May-2011

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

The Philippines’ Ambassador to Ireland expressed an interest in bringing his country’s boxing team to Galway for acclimatisation training ahead of next year’s Olympic Games in London during a visit to the city on Friday.

Ambassador Ariel Y Abadilla was said to be impressed by an information pack given to him by a delegation from the Galway Chamber of Commerce and Industry which highlighted the city’s advantages as a pre-Olympics base for national teams.

Mr Abadilla acknowledged the advantages of using Galway as a base, due to the city’s sports facilities and proximity to London, for athletes who will need to acclimatise after making a long journey for next summer’s games.

He met up with Carmel Brennan and Maeve Joyce of the Chamber during a day-long visit to the city which included meetings with the City Manager, Joe O’Neill, and Mayor Michael Crowe, and visits to the Claddagh National School and the Marine Institute in Oranmore.

“We have a committee in the Chamber which is tasked with having a look at the whole Olympics scenario and how Galway could benefit from it,” said Ms Joyce yesterday.

“We have sent an information pack to every embassy in Ireland, but we made a special presentation to the Philippines Ambassador to mark the occasion of his visit. He said he was very impressed by the sports facilities on offer here, but said that his main focus would be on the boxing team.”

Other countries have already expressed an interest in Galway, particularly due to the water sports facilities here, with the Chilean team considering the city for a pre-Olympics base and ‘feelers’ having been sent out to other countries including Brazil and Kenya.

Mr Abadilla’s Galway visit was organised by City Councillor Niall McNelis (Labour).“He told me that the Olympic team would need to acclimatise after such a long flight before the Olympics and said that we were the first city in Ireland to suggest being used as a base next year,” said Cllr McNelis.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel