The Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio overcame hometown bet Liudmila Vorontsova, 3-2, to capture the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championship featherweight gold medal in Ulan-Ude, Russia Sunday.
The 27-year-old Davao del Sur native came through with a flurry of punches to beat Vorontsova in three rounds and surpass her silver medal finish at the 2014 edition in Jeju City, South Korea.
The score, however, was a split decision with three judges, Australia (30-27), Korea (30-27), and Ireland (29-28) giving the nod to Petecio while Japan (30-27) and Argentina (29-28) gave the bout to the Russian.
Petecio’s victory came less than 24 hours after gymnast Carlos Yulo clinched the floor exercise gold medal at the 49th FIG World Artistic Gymnastics in Germany.
Prior to her golden feat, Petecio clobbered Karris Artingstall of England, 4-1, in the semifinal. Her earlier victories came at the expense of Sena Irie of Japan, 4-1; Qiao Jieru of China, 3-2; second seed Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria, 3-2; and Jucielen Romeu of Japan.
Petecio has never won gold in her career, having settled for bridesmaid finishes in previous international events.
She won silver in the 2011 Jakarta (in bantamweight), 2013 Myanmar, and 2015 Singapore Southeast Asian Games, and in the bantamweight division of the 2015 Wulanchabu Asian Amateur Boxing Championships. (Kristel Satumbaga)
