Bacyadan outpoints Spanish foe to advance in Olympic boxing qualifiers

MANILA, Philippines – From a wushu practitioner to a vovinam world champion, Hergie Bacyadan’s constant craving for success has brought the Filipina boxer two steps away from becoming a boxing Olympian.

Fueled yet again by this same burning desire for glory, Bacyadan smashed Dunia Martinez of Spain in their women’s 75-kilogram class round-of-32 duel in the second World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand Monday night.

Bacyadan, a Kalinga Apayao fighter who won the World Vovinam Championship crown in Vietnam last year, didn’t leave anything to chance as she utterly dominated her pitiful foe to draw the complete nod of all five judges, who scored the bout 30-25, 30-26, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 in her favor.

The one-sided win catapulted Bacyadan straight to the round-of-16 where she will battle former world champion Veronika Nakota of Hungary, who breezed past Sweden’s Love Holgersson in another unanimous decision result.

And Bacyadan is expected to throw caution to the wind for that victory as she is now two triumphs away from making the Paris Olympics where fellow boxers Eumir Marcial, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas await.

Bacyadan, along with Tokyo silver winner Carlo Paalam, were the last Filipino standing after Rogen Ladon and Criztian Pitt Laurente both fell by the wayside following heartbreaking, backbreaking defeats.

Paalam was tackling Turkmenistan’s Shukur Ovezov in the round-of-32 of the men’s 57kg section at press time.

Unlike Bacyadan’s easier path, Paalam’s road to success was full of thorns as he would need three more wins to make the Paris cut.

But Paalam isn’t about to just bid adieu and expect him to go all out instead for another shot at an Olympic gold.