MANILA – Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio assured herself of a podium finish in the 2024 Paris Olympics after reaching the semifinals round of the women’s boxing 57kg class on Sunday night at the North Paris Arena in Paris, France.
Petecio, a silver medal winner in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, secured the semifinals seat following a unanimous decision victory over China’s Zichun Xu in the quarterfinals round.
The Filipina boxer also moved a win away from returning to the gold medal round, where she has a chance to match or surpass her silver medal finish three years ago.
“Naniniwala kasi ako na ‘pag ‘yung gustung-gusto mong makuha, hindi binigay ni Lord, may mas magandang purpose po Siya,” Petecio said in an interview with One Sports.
“Ito na ‘yun. Ito ‘yung pinakamagandang purpose po ni Lord,” she added. “Walang hinto hangga’t walang ginto. So dalawa na lang. So hopefully makuha na natin this time.”
Petecio displayed her punch accuracy in the first two rounds, which saw her getting the nod of all five judges as the much-taller Xu could not find the answers to the Filipina’s solid jabs.
An uppercut to complete a combination in the final minute of the third round highlighted the clinical victory for Petecio as she cruised to a one-sided triumph.
The 32-year-old Petecio will next face Poland’s Julia Szeremeta, who barged to the semifinals round after her unanimous decision victory over Puerto Rico’s Ashleyann Lozada Motta.
Filipino hurdlers Lauren Hoffman and John Cabang Tolentino, meanwhile, were relegated to the repechage after falling short in their respective qualifying matches on Sunday.
Hoffman finished eighth in Heat 4 of the women’s 400m hurdles after clocking in at 57.84 seconds, while Tolentino submitted a time of 13.66.659 for sixth place in Heat 1 of the men’s 100m hurdles./PN
