The Philippines has suffered a major blow in its bid to qualify more boxers for the Beijing Olympics after leading flyweight hope Violito Payla sustained an injury. “We're sort of praying for a miracle,” William Ramirez, head of the Philippine Sports Commission, told Reuters. “I was more excited with the team that we sent to Chicago last year. One of our boxers with the best chance of nailing a slot in the Beijing Games got injured during training. But we're not losing hope.” Kazakhstan hosts the final Asian qualifying boxing tournament from March 17-23 with 19 slots up for grabs. The Philippines is hoping to win two places after a dismal performance in a previous round in January. Only one boxer, light flyweight Harry Tanamor, has qualified for the Olympics. He won silver in last year's world championships in Chicago. The Philippines, traditionally a boxing powerhouse and home to WBC super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao, was disappointed by the performance and hired two Cuban coaches in a bid to boost Olympic prospects. Payla, a gold medal winner at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, suffered a rotator cuff tear during training last week and will be replaced by Godfrey Castro who took bronze in Doha. Light welterweight Delfin Boholst, bantamweight Joan Tipon, lightweight Genebert Basadre and featherweight Orlando Tacuyan complete the country's five-man team. A total of 154 of 286 boxing slots at the Beijing Games have been filled following four out of 10 qualifying tournaments across the globe. A total of 23 places were at stake this week in the first American qualifying round in Trinidad and Tobago. Russia and China have won the most number of slots, 10 each. __
