Petecio settles for silver medal

JEJU Island, Korea — Nesthy Petecio dug deep and engaged Russian Zinaida Dobrynina in four rugged rounds before settling for the silver medal in the finals of the featherweight division (57 kg.) of the AIBA World Women's Championships here.

It was a tight contest which divided the spectators on who actually won. The three judges scorecards also could not have been closer: 38-38, 37-39 and 37-39. Unfortunately for the Filipina, the last two scores favored the Russian.

Fighting in her 6th bout in 9 days of competition, the dusky Davao del Sur native tried to get inside of the much taller opponent and traded punches with her. The Russian girl was fighting only her 5th match; she drew a bye in the first round.

"I don't think that made much of a difference that I fought one more fight than she did. I felt good during the match" said the 22 year old ABAP boxer who also won silver medals in the SEA Games  in Palembang (2011) and Myanmar (2013).

"Malakas din siya manuntok pero tinatamaan ko rin siya. Hindi naman yata ako masyado na agrabyado doon. Pero yon ang decision, respetohin na lang natin" (She could also hit hard but I also hit her. I don't think she dominated me, but that was the decision and we have to respect it." said the eldest of five children.

ABAP president Ricky Vargas conveyed his satisfaction at Petecio's 2nd place finish.

"This was a strong tournament with the best women boxers from 67 countries and we were one of only 12 nations in the finals. I am proud of Nesthy," said Vargas, who is also president of Maynilad Water.

"Nesthy's performance inspires us to continue our program of talent identification, training and international exposure for both our men and women boxers. We owe it to these dedicated athletes who sacrifice so much for the country", he added.

The women's trip here was supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, PLDT and Maynilad. Uniforms were provided by Pride Sports Apparel.— ABAP Media Bureau

The other members of the lean Philippine team were boxers Josie Gabuco and Irish Magno, coaches Roel Velasco and Violito Payla and team manager and AIBA technical official Karina Picson. – ABAP Media Bureau (FREEMAN)