MANILA – Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio is now assured of a medal finish in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after punching her way to the semifinals of the women’s featherweight division on Wednesday at the Kokukigan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur native Petecio entered the final four following a masterful unanimous decision victory over Colombian fighter Yeni Arias Castaneda in the quarterfinals round.
Petecio has a strong showing in the opening round as she rocked Castaneda with solid straights, uppercuts, and combinations for her to gain a 10-9 score among five judges.
Castaneda, meanwhile, made her presence felt in the second round with volume hits. However, Petecio landed solid punches as three judges gave her a 10-9 score, while two others favored the Colombian.
Knowing that she was behind in the scorecards, Castaneda went for the haywire in the third round but could not puncture the defense of Petecio. The Filipina then landed limited but cleaner shots to earn the nod of all judges.
Petecio – a world champion in the featherweight division – will battle Italian boxer Irma Testa on Saturday at 12:39 p.m. to assure herself of at least a silver medal in the Summer Games.
With her assurance of at least a bronze medal, Petecio became the first boxer from the country to seize an Olympic medal since Negrense Mansueto Velasco took home a silver 25 years ago.
It was also the first time in 87 years that the Philippines has at least two medals in an Olympics after a gold medal feat of Filipina weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz on Monday night.
On the other hand, Filipina swimmer Remedy Rule ended her campaign in the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday morning when she faltered in the semifinals round of the women’s 200-meter butterfly event.
Rule missed out on the top eight finals after settling for 15th place finish overall in the semifinals with two minutes and 12.89 seconds. She also bowed out in the women’s 100-meter butterfly last Saturday.
Filipino swimmer Luke Gebbie also failed to advance to the men’s 100-meter freestyle semifinals on Tuesday night as he finished 36th overall out of 71 swimmers with 49.64 seconds./PN
