Sure medals for Petecio, Villegas

PARIS — Nesthy Petecio put up yet another masterclass act while Aira Villegas showed grit and guts in contrasting victories producing two outright medals for Team Philippines in the 2024 Olympics boxing competition at the North Paris Arena.

Continuing a display of great ring savvy, Petecio blew past hapless Chinese rival Xu Zichun, 5-0, in their 57kg quarterfinals bout Sunday afternoon as Villegas scored a dramatic 3-2 split decision versus France’s Wassila Lkhadiri in their 50kg Last Eight fight deep into the night Saturday.

Those triumphs assured both fighters of at least a bronze each, and put a lock on a second straight multi-medal hit for the Philippine boxing team in the quadrennial Games.

As one of the three Philippine pugs who punched podium finishes in Tokyo in 2021, Petecio has made history as the first boxer to produce medals in two Olympics.

And with the kind of fight she’s been dishing out here consistently, the Davaoeno fighter looks well capable of surpassing her silver feat in Tokyo.

Philippines' Nesthy Petecio celebrates her victory over France's Amina Zidani at the end of their women's 57kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on August 2, 2024. — Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP

“Dalawa na lang. Hopefully makuha natin this time,” said Petecio.

Boxing officials here were impressed with Petecio on how she’s so dominant and devastating this deep into the competition.

“She’s just getting better and better,” said ABAP coach Don Abnett of Petecio who went perfect, not yielding a single point to her Chinese foe.

Villegas had her remarkable show early on as she kept her Cinderella ride as a debuting Olympian.

Her fate in the air after two rounds of a slam-bang clash, Villegas decided she won’t let her chances go away, braving on, fighting on and eventually winning one of the fiercest and closest fights here.

The Tacloban native Villegas delivered a clutch third-round and advanced to the semifinals versus Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu with a shot at the gold-medal bout versus the winner of the other semi pitting Chinese Wu Yu and Kazakhstan Nazym Kyzaibay.

“Grabe po, sobrang nagpapasalamat ako kay God. Lalo na ‘yung sa last round kasi nagtabla kami ‘nun. Sabi ni coach (Rey Galido), hahayaan mo ba na kunin niya ‘yun? Sabi ko, hindi, akin ito. Kailangan kong bumawi kasi last year, natalo niya ako,” Villegas said.

“Dapat this year, comeback ko ‘to kasi February 2023, siya yung nakatalo sa akin, 3-2. So sabi ko kailangan ko itong kunin, last round,” she added.

And Villegas did redeem herself from her loss to Lkhadiri in their previous fight, beating the Frenchwoman in her home turf and making it 2-0 for the Philippines versus France in head-on clashes in the boxing competition.

The day earlier, Petecio clipped another French in Amina Zidani, 4-1, in the Round of 16.

Villegas was a highly charged fighter while setting out for battle versus Lkhadiri.

She was inspired by Carlos Yulo’s great triumph in the gymnastics hall just hours earlier and was burning with a desire to make up for the losses of friends and teammates Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam.

“Inaalay ko rin po ito sa mga kasamahan ko, lalo na kay Eumir at kay Carlo, nalungkot ako (natalo sila),” said Villegas. “So sabi ko, gagawin ko na lang siyang motivation para ibawi yung kasamahan ko.”

Marcial and Paalam were Tokyo Olympics medalists three years ago who failed to progress to the medal rounds here.

Marcial was stunned by Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev in the Round of 16 while Paalam bid his medal hopes goodbye with a heartbreaking loss to Australia’s Charlie Senior in the men’s 57 kg quarterfinals.