Ex-AIS coach Don Abnett helping Philippines make boxing history at Tokyo Olympic Games

As Nesthy Petecio steps inside the Kokugikan Arena's boxing ring on the verge of the Philippines' first boxing medal at the Olympic Games, one voice rings louder than any other.

Coach Don Abnett stands in the 29-year-old featherweight's corner, himself at the Olympics for the third time.

Only this time "it's a different Games". In London and Rio, Abnett was a coach of the Australian boxing team. He spent a decade coaching at the AIS. Today, he is coaching four Filipino boxers in search of history.

So you want to work out how Abnett found his way to Petecio's corner. He asks "how far back do you want to start?"

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"I grew up in the far north coast of NSW in Casino," Abnett said as his mind drifts towards Casino's hometown hero Justin Rowsell's two bouts with Ronald Chavez, now the head coach of the Philippines' elite boxing team.

Abnett moved to Wollongong, where his boxing journey took a turn.

"I got injured in sparring, that's when I was newly-married and it interfered with my work, being injured," Abnett said.

"I was having to take time off work, so it was costly. I still wanted to be involved in the sport so I started coaching.

"That was a lot safer, and it kept me in the sport and also made the wife happy. I moved to Canberra in the early 90s, and that's when I got involved at the AIS."

There Abnett took control of the national talent identification development program. That's where he crossed paths with the likes of Canberra's Abe Archibald, the ANBF NSW welterweight champion.

Ask who came through programs during Abnett's time at the AIS and he begins to rattle off a plethora of medallists from major events.

"The first one was Paul Fleming I think, he had a bronze medal in Morocco in 2006," Abnett said.

Abnett has been working with the Philippines for three years now. Irish Magno, Petecio, Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam are their Tokyo contenders.

Petecio is guaranteed to claim a medal having booked a women's featherweight semi-final appearance against Italian Irma Testa on Saturday.

It would be the Philippines' first in boxing, and should she win gold, the nation's second gold overall. The magnitude of such an achievement cannot be understated for a nation which has been competing at the Olympics since 1924.

And the journey to get there? It has been as challenging as perhaps any other in the midst of a global pandemic which has kept Abnett from seeing his family for almost two years.

"Our Asia-Oceania qualifiers were originally in Wuhan, where the virus actually started," Abnett said.

"We were in a training camp preparing for that event in Thailand in January last year. Then it got postponed in March.

"We had six weeks to go back home and put some training into the boys and girls and then go back to Thailand and do another two-week camp, before going to Jordan to the qualifiers.

"As soon as we got back from the qualifiers, my role changed. Now I'm the head coach of the Olympic team.

"A week after that meeting, that's when were in lockdown. We spent the whole year last year from March right through until January this year doing online training.

"If they didn't have Zoom, we did it just on Messenger."

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