Aiming for first SEA Games gold

MANILA, Philippines — There will be 1,094 Filipino athletes vying for honors in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games this year and among the host country’s top bets, AIBA world women’s featherweight boxing champion Nesthy Petecio, world gymnastics floor exercise titleholder Caloy Yulo and 2016 Olympic weightlifting silver medallist Hidilyn Diaz are seeking their first-ever gold medal in the 11-nation biennial competition.

It’s the largest Filipino contingent to compete in the SEA Games ever. The previous high was 743 when the Philippines hosted in 2005, the only year it took the overall championship with 113 golds. In 2017, the Philippines was represented by 497 athletes in Malaysia.

Petecio, 27, took the gold medal in the featherweight division at the AIBA women’s world championships in Ulan Ude, Russia this year. The climb to the throne wasn’t easy as Petecio won six straight fights on points over Brazil’s Jucielen Romeu, 3-2, Bulgaria’s Stanimira Petrovia, 3-2, China’s Qiao Jieru, 3-2, Japan’s Sena Irie, 4-1, England’s Karriss Artingstall, 4-1 and Russia’s Ludmila Vorontsova, 3-2. Four of the six victories were close 3-2 verdicts so Petecio was pushed to the limit, particularly in the final against the home crowd favorite.

In 2015, Petecio also reached the final at the AIBA women’s world championships in Jeju City, South Korea but settled for the silver. She scored four straight by unanimous decision over Algeria’s Manel Meharzi, Ukraine’s Maryna Malovana, China’s Lu Quiong and the US’ Tiara Brown before bowing to Russia’s Zinaida Dobrynina in the gold medal match.

Petecio has been a dominant figure in overseas tournaments since claiming the gold in a dual match boxing competition in Guam in 2009. She also brought home the gold from the US Boxing Tournament in San Francisco in 2010, the President’s Cup in Indonesia in 2011and 2015, the China Open in 2013, the Indian Open in 2018, the Felix Stamm Memorial in Poland in 2018, the Korotkov Memorial in Russia in 2018 and the Kapolri Cup in Indonesia in 2018. Despite Petecio’s successes on the global stage, she has never hit paydirt in the SEA Games, bagging the silver in 2011, 2013 and 2015. This year, Petecio is determined to break the jinx.

Yulo, 19, is making his SEA Games debut. He couldn’t compete in previous SEA Games because of the floor age requirement of 18. Now that Yulo is of age, the country is pinning its hopes on a slew of gold medals from the wunderkind. Yulo is fresh from capturing the gold medal in floor exercise at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart. In the SEA Games, he is entered in seven events – floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars, vault, still rings, high bar and individual all-around.

Yulo has qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and will carry the torch in the SEA Games opening ceremony at the Philippine Arena on Nov. 30. Yulo will pass the torch to super WBA welterweight champion Sen. Manny Pacquiao to light the flame in the cauldron. Two officials of the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) are reportedly arriving to watch the SEA Games for the first time. FIG president Morinari Watanabe of Japan and vice president Vassily Titov of Russia were invited to witness the SEA Games by Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion.

Diaz, 28, took the silver medal in the -53 kg division of women’s weightlifting at the Rio Olympics three years ago, becoming only the third Philippine athlete to finish second in the Games after Anthony Villanueva in 1964 and Onyok Velasco in 1996. In the SEA Games, Diaz has never struck gold. She earned the bronze in 2007 and silvers in 2011 and 2013, all in the -58 kg class. 

Petecio, Yulo and Diaz intend to mark gold medal breakthroughs in the SEA Games this year.