Petecio eyes one more shot at elusive gold
Nesthy Petecio hinted at chasing a third straight Olympics medal—gold if she would have her way—in 2028 Los Angeles. But she has her immediate targets set before going there.
“My goal is to become a world champion again and retain my gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games,’’ said Petecio, who returned to the Philippine boxing team’s training facility in Baguio City last week after spending the holidays with her family in Davao.
‘Refreshed’
Liverpool, England will host the 2025 World Boxing Championships from Sept. 4 to 14 followed by the SEA Games in Thailand in December where Petecio is the reigning featherweight gold medalist.
“These are the two tournaments that I will focus on this year,” said Petecio, who bagged silver in Tokyo and then bronze in Paris, in Filipino. “I don’t really think about Los Angeles at the moment since it’s still three years away.”
Petecio won the featherweight title during the 2019 world championship in Ulan-Ude, Russia, before dominating the division again in the Manila SEA Games. She also won in Cambodia in 2023.
“I felt really refreshed spending time with my family after that bloody preparation and competition in the Olympics. I’m happy to be back in training,’’ said Petecio.
