Petecio, 3 other Philippines pugs snare gold in Alicante

MANILA, Philippines — Gradually, Nesthy Petecio and the magnificent Filipino boxers are getting into the form they want them to be during the Olympic qualifier and in the Olympic proper.

Saturday in La Nucia in Alicante, Spain was a vivid reflection of where Petecio and the Philippine team are now in terms of Olympic preparation as they scooped up four gold medals in the Boxam Elite Tournament.

One of those glittering mints was delivered by Petecio, a Tokyo Games silver winner, herself in the women’s 57-kilogram division where she overwhelmed Tokyo bronze medalist and fellow world champion Huang Hsiao-Wen of Chinese Taipei, 4-1, in the final.

The three others were courtesy of 2016 Olympian Rogen Ladon (51kg), Aira Villegas (women’s 50kg) and a ferocious Hergie Bacyadan (women’s 75kg).

Ladon literally didn’t break a sweat as he won via default over Hungarian Istvan Szaka.

Villegas, for her part, fended off Kyzaibay Nazym of Kazakhstan in escaping with a heart-pounding 3-2 decision while Bacyadan, a world champion last year in another martial arts sport vovinam, overpowered Yerzhan Gulsaya also of Kazakhstan.

The fantastic four are hoping these feats provide them a needed momentum in chase of a spot in the Paris Games.

They have two chances to join early entrant Eumir Felix Marcial – first in Busto Arsizio, Italy from Feb. 29 to March 12 and the other in Bangkok, Thailand from May 23 to June 3.

“Four gold medals,” said a jubilant Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines secretary-general Marcus Manalo in his social media while also thanking the MVP Sports Foundation and the Philippine Sports Commission for bankrolling the trip.