By REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – Retirement is far from Tokyo Games silver medal Nesthy Petecio’s mind even after she dropped her keenly awaited showdown with fierce rival Lin Yu Ting of Chinese Taipei on Friday, Sept. 29, in the boxing competitions of the 19th Asian Games here.
“Hindi pa tayo tapos,” said the 31-year-old pride of Davao del Sur, claiming she still have enough fire left in her belly.
Petecios’ 4-1 defeat to the 5-foot-9 Taiwanese denied her of an outright slot in the Paris Olympics next year.
Exploiting her height advantage, Lin tagged the 5-foot-2 Petecio with crisp jabs and excellent combinations to score cleanly and avenge her quarterfinals defeat in the Round of 16 of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics two years ago.
“Nag-unahan kami kung sino ang ang makakakuha ng saktong style. At naunahan niya talaga ako,” said Petecio she also apologized to the boxing leaders several hours after her defeat.
But all is not lost for Petecio, saying she will try to polish her craft back home in her bid to gain another crack at Olympic glory.
“May babaguhin pa, may idadagdag pa sa training namin. Kung ano yung kulang, alam kong andiyan yung mga coaches para punan pa yun,” added Petecio with a wry smile.
For sure, it won’t be easy as she has to go through the tough World Championships where she will be facing some of the world’s finest fighters in the 57 kg class.
The loss of Petecio left the flamboyant Tokyo bronze medalist Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam to carry the task of bringing home the coveted gold medal after Olympian Irish Magno, Aira Villegas, Aaron Jude Bado, Mark Ashley Fajardo, and Marjon Pianar fell one after the other.
Marcial kept her medal bid alive by scoring 5-0 win over Vietnamese Nguyen Manh Cuong in the Round of 16 of their -80kg class, a win that made up for Marvin John Nobel’s shocking RSC (referee stopped contest) defeat to a Korean rival in 45 seconds of their quarterfinal clash in the -92kg division.
