For the Philippines at the
Olympic Games, it is already a successful campaign if one athlete from the
delegation manages to snag a single medal. The drought periods in many successive
Olympics have gotten to the point that one medal can be considered a triumph.
But Filipinos should not forget Los Angeles of 1932, the country’s third Olympics
appearance (as a US commonwealth). That delegation walked home with three
bronze medals. That had been the only time Team PH claimed more than one
Olympic medal…until Tokyo 2020/21. Hidilyn Diaz may have already won the first
Filipino Olympic gold, but now a female boxer has ensured Filipinos will have
more than one medal for these Games.
The Manila Bulletin reports that Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio
continues to wow at the women’s featherweight boxing event for the Tokyo Summer
Olympics this year. During the quarterfinals held this Wednesday, July 28, the
29-year-old fighter from Santa Cruz, Davao Del Sur made mincemeat of her
opponent Yeni Arias Castañeda (age 30) from Colombia. In doing so she advances
to the women’s featherweight semifinals, guaranteeing that she will at least
leave the event with an Olympic bronze medal…unless she advances to possible silver
or Gold.
Impressing the five judges at
ringside with her inspired combination attacks, Petecio earned a victory by
unanimous decision. Three of the judges scored 29-28 in her favor, with the
other two scoring 30-27 likewise. As a quarterfinalist Nesthy is assured of a
bronze finish. But if she can beat her semifinals opponent, Italian Irma Tesla,
then she will advance to the women’s featherweight finals for an assured silver
medal placing even if she loses. But with her earlier wins against Marcelat
Matshu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5-0) and Lin Yu-ting of Chinese
Taipei (3-2), her prospects are some of the strongest yet for a Philippine
Olympic boxer.
But even if this is as far as
Nesthy Petecio goes, she has already gone further in revisiting earlier
Filipino Olympic glory, by guaranteeing that the country has more than one
medal to show for these Tokyo Summer Olympics. That is just one medal away from
equaling the quantity won by the 8-man Team PH for the 1932 Los Angeles
Olympics, all of which were bronze (high-jumper Simeon Toribio, bantamweight
boxer Jose Villanueva, and swimmer Teofilo Yidefonso who won an earlier bronze
in Amsterdam 1928).
Petecio’s fellow boxers Irish
Magno (women’s flyweight), Carlo Paalam (men’s flyweight) and Eumir Marcial
(men’s middleweight) are yet to face their opponents in the Round of 16 for
their respective weight divisions for this week.
Image courtesy of Tatler Philippines
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