ILOILO – For giving pride to this province, Ilongga boxer Irish Magno of Janiuay town is set to receive incentives.
Magno competed in the women’s flyweight category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Though she failed to land a podium finish, “Bugal naton nga halin sa probinsya sang Iloilo ang nagrepresentar o nagtilawas sa pungsod Pilipinas,”said Dorothy Paes, Liga ng mga Barangay president and ex-officio Provincial Board Member who authored a resolution lauding Magno.
On Tuesday, two resolutions were passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) commending the boxer and granting a cash incentive (the amount, however, was yet to be ascertained).
“Daw ano bala nga bugal ang gindala ‘ya maski wala pa sia nakakuha sang gold,” said Paes.
Magno, 30, was in fact the first Filipina boxer to qualify for the Olympics.
She saw her 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign come to an end after a losing to Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the women’s 48-51-kilogram round-of-16 match at the Kokukigan Arena in Tokyo, Japan on July 29.
Previously, Magno represented the Philippines in international amateur boxing competitions including the Asian Games and the World Championship.
She won a gold medal in the 2012 Taipei Open in Taiwan, bronze medal in the 2013 Southeast Asian Games, silver medal in the 2015 Southeast Asians Games, and silver medal in women’s flyweights division in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Vice Gov. Christine Garin, who authored the resolution granting Magno a cash incentive, said the athlete would receive it upon her return to Iloilo.
Magno’s youth was spent working shoulder-to-shoulder with her parents at a farm in Janiuay to make ends meet.
“Our life was hard so I thought I could help my family through boxing,” she said.
At first, she did not tell her parents that she was going into boxing. After school, she would go straight to the town plaza to train on the sly.
“One day my mother followed me after school. That’s how they found out and I was so deep into training,” said Magno.
But there wasn’t a lot they could do at that point./PN
