TOKYO. – In a huge boost to her gold-medal bid, Nesthy Petecio toppled top-ranked Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan Monday, eking out an exciting 3-2 win to advance to the quarterfinals of the women’s featherweight division of the Olympic boxing tournament at the Kogugikan Arena here.
The left-handed Petecio, the 2019 world champion, banked on her speed and body shots to score early in the first round then held off the tall and rangy Taiwanese with her ring smarts in the last two to claim a quarterfinals slot.
She earned the nod of three judges via 29-28 scores while two others saw it the same way for Lin, the 2018 world women amateur boxing bantamweight champion who has moved up the featherweight class.
“She stuck to the tactics, without overcommitting,” said coach Don Abnett.
“Sinabi ni coach Boy (Velasco) sa akin na lamang na tayo (after the first round), ingatan mo ‘yung lamang natin,” said Petecio.
Petecio advanced against Colombia’s Yeni Marcela Arias Castaneda, a similar 3-2 winner over Bulgaria’s Stanimira Petrova, in the round-of-8 Wednesday, with another win assuring her of at least a bronze medal.
Making it a double celebration for Team Philippines was flyweight Carlo Paalam, who pounded out a 4-1 win over Irishman Brendan Irvine in a rousing Olympic debut.
“Thankful ako kasi nanalo tayo on the first day ng laro ko,” Paalam said.“Medyo dikit ang laban, at least, binuhos ko kung ano’ng natitira sa pagod ko, binuhos ko na lahat po.”
Paalam pounced on Irvine in the first round to set the tone of the match, piling up points to pull away although one judge still saw the Irishman as the winner.
He advanced to the round-of-16 Wednesday against Algeria’s Mohammed Fissi, who drew a bye in the first round.
If she reaches the semifinals, Petecio, also a gold medal winner in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games making her maiden appearance in the Olympic Games, will be assured of at least P7 million in incentives coming from the government and private sponsors.
But don’t expect Petecio to settle for that, judging from the way she took the fight to the fancied Taiwanesewho found it hard to connect against the slippery Pinay southpaw.
Sensing she was behind after the first round, Lin came out more aggressively in the second and began connecting with her long-range shots to close the gap entering the pivotal third round.
