Petecio, Villegas last 2 Pinoy pugs standing

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TWO Filipina boxers–Tokyo Olympic Games silver medalist Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas–were left standing and moved into the pivotal phase of their Olympic bids after last Sunday night’s action in the 1st World Olympic Qualification Boxing Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy.

Banking on her vast experience, Petecio pressed her campaign to punch a ticket to the Paris Summer Games in July with a dominating unanimous decision (5-0) victory over outclassed Dutch teener Maud Van der Toorn in their featherweight quarterfinals clash.

Petecio kept Van der Toorn, 18, at bay for a 29-28 score on all the five judges’ scorecards.

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She was up against Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman, a 4-1 winner over Briton Elisse Glenn, in the semifinals last night at the E-Work Arena in a bid to seal her Olympic spot and join 19th Asian Games silver medalist Eumir Felix Marcial as the second Pinoy boxer to make it back to the Olympics.

Based on the Olympic qualifying process, there are two quota places in the 57kg division so there will be no need for a battle for the title in the class.

Going down three kilos to compete in the flyweight division, Villegas, 28, a bantamweight bronze medalist in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, was just as sharp, outclassing Dane Sofie Vinter Rosshaug 5-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Villegas was the runaway winner, earning a score of 30-26 from one judge while the four others had it 30-27 in favor of the 28-year-old pride of Tacloban, Leyte.

She will next take on Bulgaria’s Zlatislava Chukanova, who vanquished Jordan’s Hanan Nassar 5-0 in their round-of-16 encounter, in the quarterfinals with an Olympic slot on the line, with the four emerging semifinalists assured of making it to the romantic French capital.

Four quota places are at stake in the flyweight division of the competition that drew a huge field of 602 entries from 113 countries.

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