EVEN with Japanese nemesis and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Sena Irie retired, Nesthy Petecio acknowledged that her return trip in the Paris Summer Games won’t be a stroll in the park.
After vanquishing Petecio with a lopsided 5-0 decision in the Japanese capital three years ago, Irie, a college student then, decided to quit and pursue a career in making video games.
Petecio, 32, who returned home with a silver in her Olympic debut, felt she had unfinished business to take care of and decided to renew the grueling grind, qualifying for a second straight stint in the Summer Games.
The pride of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur accomplished that by reaching the women’s featherweight semifinals of the 2nd World Olympic Qualification Boxing Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand last week with a masterful 4-1 decision over Turkey’s Esra Yildiz.
Even with Irie no longer around, Petecio said it would be more difficult than ever to capture the elusive gold medal in the French capital.
“Dahil wala na si Sena Irie ng Japan, ako na dapat ang mag-gold, hindi ganun kadali,” she said yesterday during the PSA Forum. “Dahil iba ‘yung level ng boxers ngayon. Mas maliit pa sa butas ng karayom ang pagdadaanan ko sa Paris.”
While acknowledging the field in the featherweight division was formidable, she mentioned three boxers — Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting, Italian Irma Testa and Kazakh Karina Ibragimova — as her likely rivals for the gold in the women’s 57kg division.
Petecio has faced all three in international competitions.
In the Tokyo Summer Games, she beat narrowly beat Lin, a gold medalist in the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games 3-2 in her second bout then beat Testa, the reigning world amateur featherweight queen 4-1 in the semifinals.
She lost to Ibragimova 0-5 in the featherweight finals of the 2022 Asian boxing championships in Amman, Jordan.
“Hindi ko ina-underestimate ‘yung iba pero ito talagang tatlo ang paghahandaan ko,” Petecio said.
