Petecio demolishes opponent, is assured of at least a bronze
Displaying her most efficient and fearsome form yet, Nesthy Petecio just put another medal into the Philippines’ Paris Olympics cache on Sunday night after destroying China’s Xu Zichun in their women’s 57-kilogram quarterfinal match at Paris North Arena.
Hitting the slender Chinese almost at will in the first two rounds, the 32-year-old Petecio posted her most lopsided victory in these Games that not only assured her of at least a bronze medal but also kept her bid alive in improving a silver medal effort in Tokyo 2020.
And while the Filipino is one of the most seasoned pugs left in the draw, a 20-year-old Pole stands in the way of Petecio in making the gold medal match.
Julia Szeremeta bounced around the ring and fought in a very unorthodox way, catching the seasoned Ashleyann Lozada totally off guard in carving out a unanimous decision victory that also assured Poland of its first boxing medal since the 1992 Games.
With Petecio and Aira Villegas, who is also assured of at least a bronze in the 50-kg class, the Philippines, counting Carlos Yulo’s floor exercise gold in gymnastics on Saturday night, is on course towards improving its showing in Japan three years ago in the COVID-delayed edition.
Yulo, incidentally, was still shooting to win a second gold medal in the vault finals at Bercy Arena.
The winner of the Petecio-Szemereta semifinal duel will advance to face either Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who beat Svetlana Kamenova Staneva of Bulgaria, or Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman.
Tests challenged
Lin is one of two boxers whose genders have been greatly questioned in these Games.
She and Algeria’s Imane Khelif have been at the center of a social media storm due to them being disqualified during the 2023 World Championships after falling foul of unspecified International Boxing Association (IBA) gender eligibility rules.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday that the IBA tests carried out on the two fighters last year were illegitimate and lacked credibility.
“Those tests are not legitimate tests. The tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests are not legitimate,” IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told a press conference.
Khelif is also assured of at least a bronze after winning her welterweight quarterfinal against Hungary’s Luca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision on Saturday.
The debate over Khelif’s and Lin’s participation in the tournament rocketed after the Algerian won her round-of-16 bout in 46 seconds on Thursday, when her Italian opponent, Angela Carini, pulled out of the fight.
Carini was hit with multiple punches in the first 30 seconds, before raising her hand and returning to her corner to withdraw from the fight, saying she had felt intense pain and was worried about her own safety. With reports from Reuters
By Inquirer Sports Staff
