Petecio through to Round of 16 in boxing Olympic qualifers
MANILA, Philippines – “Maglalaro ako sa Paris.”
This was the promise made by Tokyo Games silver winner Nesthy Petecio when she fell short in her Olympic quest in the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year.
The same vow is still reverberating until now in the World Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy, where she is making a last-gasp bid to fulfill that solemn vow.
And Petecio kept it continuously ringing following a unanimous decision victory over Romanian Maria Claudia Nechia, which catapulted the former world champion to the Round of 16 in the women’s 57-kilogram division.
It also pushed the two-time Southeast Asian Games gold winner closer and closer to claiming one of the two slots staked in her division.
Petecio would need to win three more fights, including one against German Nancy Canan Tas, who had a second-round, referee-stopped contest triumph over Vietnamese Nguyen Huyen Tran, in the Last-16 to book what could be her final Olympic sojourn.
Petecio’s win was also a soothing balm to the bleeding hearts suffered by four other Filipinos — Mark Ashley Fajardo, Claudine Veloso, Ronald Chavez, Jr. and Fil-Brit John Marvin — whose Olympic odyssey ended.
Fajardo absorbed an excruciating 3-2, split decision setback to Colombian Jose Manuel Viafara Fory in the men’s 63.5kg class while Veloso succumbed to Japanese Mikoto Harada via unanimous decision in the women’s 54kg section.
Chavez, Jr., for his part, was booted out by Jordanian Zeyad Eashash via a first-round RSC result while Marvin was eliminated by Togolese Kevin Prudence Lonlon Ko Koadjovi, 3-2.
It was especially painful for Chavez, Jr. as he could not preserve a family tradition of making it to the Olympics after his father, Ronald, Sr., and uncle, Arlo, both made it to the 1992 Barcelona Games.
The string of harrowing defeats left Petecio, Rogen Ladon and the pair of Aira Villegas and Tokyo silver medalist Carlo Paalam, who will debut next, to carry the country’s fight in search for that Olympic berth and join fellow pug Eumir Marcial, pole vaulter EJ Obiena, and gymnasts Carlos Yulo and Aleah Finnegan.
