By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Nesthy Petecio intensified her Paris Olympics bid after booking a quarterfinals berth, while Aira Villegas and Carlo Paalam also advanced to the Round of 16 in their respective weight classes in the World Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy on Friday, March 9.
Petecio, who guns for a return trip to the Games following her silver-medal finish in the 2020 Tokyo edition, continued to flex her might and overpowered Nancy Canan Tas of Germany via unanimous decision to inch closer to the Olympics ticket in the women’s 57kg.
Three judges scored 30-27, one judge posted 30-26 and the last judge gave 29-28 in favor of Petecio, whose victory set her up a meeting with Maud Van Der Toorn.
The Dutch fighter also claimed the scalp of Spaniard Jenifer Fernandez Romero via unanimous decision to keep her Olympics campaign alive.
Paalam also stamped his class in the men’s 57kg via a split 3-1 decision over Mexican Andrey Bonilla to arrange his next bout against Turkmenistan’s Shukur Ovezov, who squeaked past Iranian Daniyal Shahbakhsh with a close 3-2 decision.
Also out to prove her worth was Aira Villegas, who survived the strong challenge of Canadian Mckenzie Wright to pull off a split 3-2 victory in the women’s 50kg.
The win earned Villegas a Round of 16 meeting with Denmark’s Sofie Vinter Rosshaug, who dominated Afghanistan’s Sadia Bromand via unanimous decision.
Overall, only four Filipino boxers are still in contention for Olympic berths with Rogen Ladon fighting his way into the quarterfinals in the men’s 51kg.
Except for Petecio, who needed to make it to the finals to earn a spot to Paris, the three boxers needed to make it to the semifinals for an Olympic ticket.
