Villegas battles Moroccan in Olympic debut

PARIS – Injuries and all, Aira Villegas found her way to the Olympics. She now wants to make the most of it.

Turning 29 this Thursday, Villegas is determined to start the week right not just for herself but ABAP’s “fighting five,” hoping to provide momentum as she opens their campaign Sunday versus Moroccan Yasmine Mouttaki at the North Paris Arena.

Unseeded in women’s 50kg division, the Tacloban native is going through Round of 32, unlike Eumir Marcial, Carlo Paalam and Hergie Bacyadan who drew opening-round bye.

Nesthy Petecio, silver medalist in women’s 54kg in Tokyo in 2021 but unseeded in the 57kg here, also starts her bid in the Round of 32, clashing with India’s Jaismine Lamboria Tuesday.

But all eyes are on Villegas at the moment, with the Filipina southpaw promising to fight with all her might in her tiff with Mouttaki for a spot in the Round of 16 versus second seed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria.

Villegas and the rest of the Philippine boxing squad are a well-equipped, well-trained team seen to be very much capable of surpassing the haul of two silvers and one bronze by Petecio, Paalam and Marcial in Tokyo.

Alliance of Boxing Associations in the Philippines (ABAP) chairman Ricky Vargas has so much faith in their fighters that he made a bold prediction of minimum harvest of two golds. He said podium finishes are possible for all their five bets.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino also has high hopes on the boxers, making him confident of Team Philippines eclipsing its breakthrough 1-2-1 gold-silver-bronze overall performance in the previous Olympics.

The boxers pitched camps in Metz, France and Saarbrucken, Germany before entering the Paris athletes village determined to end the chase for the elusive boxing gold.

With near hits in Tokyo, the ABAP team then finished 11th in the overall medal ranking, barely edged by the United States (0-3-1) for 10th as Cuba won the overall championship with four golds and one bronze.

Still, there’s the feeling of emptiness minus the gold.

“The job is not done,” said ABAP secretary general Marcus Manalo.

“We know it will be really hard to go back to the podium and to finish at the top at the biggest stage. But it seems like they have what it takes. They’ve shown it,” he added.

On the draw, Manalo said: “Everyone understands that there is no ‘good draw’ at the Olympics. Everyone went through the rigorous qualifying tournaments and these are the best in the world with their big dreams on the line. Every bout is literally win or go home so we’re just placing attention on one bout at a time and then one round at a time.”

Everybody is hoping the Filipino bets are the last fighters standing at the end of a fortnight of Olympic slugfest.