DAVAO City lady boxer Nesthy Alcayde Petecio absorbed a controversial 3-2 loss to Chinese Junhua Yin in their round of 16 women's 57-kilogram featherweight bout of the 18th Asian Games 2018 women's boxing competition Friday evening.
Petecio took to her Facebook account and apologized to her family, friends, teammates, coaches, officials of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap), supporters and to all Filipinos for what had happened.
But the pain, she said, was too much to bear.
“Sakit kaayo sa dughan (My heart aches),” said the 26-year-old Petecio, born in Tuba, Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur, in a Facebook interview with SunStar Davao Saturday.
She recalled that Yin had no clear punch. She also remembered what coach Nolito Velasco told her not to give the Chinese a chance to hit her.
“Sige na gani sya gunit og gakos sa akoa, iyaha na gani ko gina wrestling kay hadlok sya... daog man gihapon (She was clinging on to me, embracing and wrestling me as she was scared... yet she still won).”
Coach Velasco and the rest of the Abap officials who watched the fight, according to her, were in tears when the result was announced.
She added, “Unsa nalang kaha ko Ma'am nga grabe akong sakripisyo para diri nga competition... kami ni Coach Boy Velasco amoang sacrifice diri para sa gold mawala lang sa isa ka daya (What about me, I sacrificed so much for this competition. Coach Boy and I worked really hard to hunt for the gold only to be denied a chance due to cheating).”
She said it may still be difficult to accept but the judges' decision could no longer be revoked.
Velasco, in a separate interview, said, “Sobra namang lokohan dito ang decision hindi na sumusuntok ang Instik nanalo pa. Galit lahat dito.”
He went on saying, “Grabe ang aming preparation sa laban na ito pero ganoon lang gagawin nila, di makatarungan.”
True enough, Petecio competed and swept all gold medals in four tournaments she competed in this year leading to her second Asian Games stint.
She emerged champion in the 2nd Kapolri Cup Boxing Tournament Open in Manado, Indonesia; 10th International Boxing Tournament in Russia last May; 1st Indian Open International Boxing Tournament in February; and in the XXXV International Felis Stamm Tournament for Elite Men and Women in Warsaw, Poland in March.
She also upset Yin, a 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, in the semifinals of the Russia event. Thus, facing the Chinese again in the Asiad was not really a threat for Petecio.
Velasco urged Petecio to move on from the defeat. The latter had also seen a sports psychologist, according to the veteran coach, to help her recover from it somehow and still encourage her to never give up in her sport.
Earlier, Filipino Joel Bacho bowed to Iranian Kazemzadeh Sajjad, 1-4, in men's welterweight (69 kg).
The country still has six more boxers left in the meet with Incheon Asian Games bronze medalist Mario Fernandez pitted against Iraq's Jaafar Abdulridha Ali Al Sudani in men's bantamweight (56 kg) Saturday evening.