By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipina boxing star Nesthy Petecio just punched a ticket to the Round of 16 of the Paris Olympics women’s boxing tournament on July 31, 2024, held at the North Paris Arena.
The former Tokyo Olympic silver medalist kicked off her redemption tour with a sweeping 5-0 victory over Jaismine Lamboria of India during their Round of 32 matchup in the 57kg category.
Eager to bounce back and target the gold medal in this year’s edition of the Olympics, Petecio started her opening fight with a textbook boxing display as she out-hit the Indian slugger to bag a 4-1 decision from the judges in the first frame.
Already heating up after a great first-round showing, Petecio began to connect on her 1-2 combinations while also showing an improved defensive stance that helped her avoid getting hit.
After landing several jabs and counter-straights, Petecio’s guard was always up and developed a turn-away counter move to negate the opponent’s incoming hook.
Despite an aggressive showing by Lamboria in the final 15 seconds of the second round in hopes of leveling the scorecards, Petecio’s defensive clinic grabbed the spotlight, dodging most of the haymakers with her fluid head movement.
Lamboria stepped on the gas pedal during the final round as she hounded the Filipina pug inside the boxing ring due to a desperation to land the much-needed knockout punch to steal the fight.
However, the more experienced Petecio played a clever approach and backpedaled for the most of the exchange when she was pinned in the ropes.
Icing the match was Petecio’s jabs in the final minute as they connected at will to the jaw of the exhausted Indian challenger. Noticing that Lamboria already run out of steam due to her extensive throwing of her power hooks, the Filipina capitalized on the situation and threw efficient jabs to seal the deal and advance to the next round of the Paris Olympics.
Awaiting Petecio in the Round of 16 phase is home bet Amina Zidani of France. Their highly-anticipated clash will take place on August 3, 2024, at 2 AM (Philippine time).
