MANILA – Filipina amateur boxer Nesthy Petecio followed up the world championship feat of gymnast Carlos Yulo. She became a world champion in the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia.
The Davao City native got the golden feat that she missed five years ago after outclassing Russian Liudmila Vorontsova in the finals of the featherweight division at the FSK Sports Complex on Sunday.
Petecio emerged the winner by a slim 3-2. Two judges scored the bout 30-27 in favor of Petecio while a third judge put it at 29-28 still for Petecio.
The other two ruled it as Vorontsova’s victory.
Petecio, a three-time Southeast Asian Games silver medalist, threaded the eye of the needle to clinch the gold. She needed to compete in the Round of 64 where she defeated Jucielen Romeu of Brazil, 3-2.
Petecio again scored a split decision win against Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria and Qiao Jieru of China to reach the last eight before dominating Sena Irie of Japan at 4-1 to guarantee herself a medal.
Petecio then advanced to the championship round after outclassing Karriss Artingstall of England in another 4-1 win in the semifinals./PN
