Petecio wants the one that got away

PARIS — Though they broke through with medal feats in Tokyo, there’s yearning for Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial to be there on the mountaintop.

“Naiwan daw ‘yung ginto sa Tokyo, gusto namin habulin ‘yung gintong ‘yun sa Paris,” said Petecio.

Petecio and Marcial start their quests for Paris gold Tuesday, with the former taking on Indian Jaismine Lamboria in women’s 57kg Round of 32 and the latter mixing it up with young Uzbek Turabek Khabibullaev in men’s 80kg Round of 16.

Petecio is determined to go all the way to the top in what could well be her last Olympics at age 32. The gold escaped from the Davao bet in the Japanese capital in a 0-5 blanking at the hands of hometown bet Irie Sena in the finale.

There’s also that burning desire in Marcial’s heart after the Zamboanga City pug, a demolition man early on in Tokyo, found a tormentor in Ukranian Oleksandr Khyzhniak in the middleweight semifinals.

Marcial goes one division higher in another pursuit of Olympic glory here.

The road to the gold for Marcial starts with his clash with Khabibullaev.

As the far more seasoned fighter, Marcial nonetheless isn’t taking Khabibullaev for granted.

“Sa experience, advantage tayo. Pero ‘yung mga bansang Uzbekistan, hindi pwedeng balewalain lalo na sa boxing. Exposed sila sa laban. Alam natin ang Uzbek, national sports nila ang boxing,” said Marcial.

“Pero alam ko sa sarili ko na handa ako,” Marcial added.

The members of the boxing team entered Paris from their training camp in Germany.

Asked of their special preparation if there’s any, Petecio and Marcial said they will just show it atop the ring.