For now, training at home in her hometown of Janiuay, Iloilo will have to do for Tokyo Olympics-bound Irish Magno.
The 28-year-old Magno said this as she awaits word when she can go back to Manila to resume regular training.
“Tuluy-tuloy pa naman ang training ko. Sana payagan na akong makabalik sa Manila,” said Magno in live webcast on Facebook.
Magno was able to return to Iloilo last Aug. 3, after coming down from Baguio City, with a 13-member national squad from the national training camp.
Since then, Magno has been undergoing supervised, online workouts with the coaches of the Alliance of Boxing Association of the Philippines.
Last March, Magno became the fourth Filipino qualifier to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
She was no longer in contention after her fight in the Round of 16 in the women’s flyweight box-off in the 2020 Asia/Oceania boxing qualifying tournament in Amman, Jordan. But she still turned back Tajikistan’s Sumaiya Qosimova via unanimous decision, 4-1, in the the box-offs.
The win made her the fourth Filipino headed to the Tokyo Olympics after pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxer Eumir Marcial.
Last July, Magno was part of a 13-member national boxing squad that returned to Manila and stayed at the Philsports Complex as they waited for their flights home.
It took her three weeks to go home and was left alone at the athletes’ quarters, after the rest of the national team left, and the Philsports Complex soon became a quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients.
“Buti na lang at tinulungan nila ako makauwi. Napakalungkot na kasi doon. Nag-iisa na lang kasi ako,” added Magno.