NESTHY Petecio settled for a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after losing in a close fight against Japanese nemesis Sena Irie in the Women’s Featherweight division finals of Boxing on Aug. 3, 2021 at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Irie got the nod of all five judges in a very close fight. Cuban judge Alejandro Barrientos Martinez, Bulgarian judge Mariya Kavaklieva, Algerian judge Mohamed Besmi and Kazakh judge Bakytzhan Bekpenbetov scored it 29-28, while Argentinean judge Manuel Vilarino had it 30-27 all for the 20-year-old Japanese.
Petecio had an impressive run in her first Olympic stint beating Marcelat Sakobi Matshu, No. 1 seed Lin Yu-Ting, Yeni Arias and Irma Testa.
The 29-year-old Petecio gave the Philippines its second medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz won the country’s first Olympic gold.
Paalam advances, Yulo bows out
On the other hand, Carlo Paalam is off to the semifinals of the Men’s Flyweight division after an upset win over 2016 Rio Olympics and AIBA World Boxing Championships gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov in the quarterfinals.
The fight was stopped by referee Pavlo Vasylynchuk at the 1:16 mark of the second round after an accidental headbutt cut both fighters. Paalam’s cut was on his forehead but Zoirov had a nasty cut above his eyebrow, wherein blood was pouring down on his eye.
The fight was stopped and went to the scorecards, wherein Paalam won four of the five judges’ scorecards. Indonesian judge Muhammad Arisa Putra Pohan, American judge Beau Campbell, Cuban judge Martinez and Irish judge Diarmuid Macdiarmada had identical scores of 20-18 for Paalam, while Tunisian judge Hichem Menchaoui scored it a 19-19 draw.
Paalam faces hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka in the semifinals on Aug. 5.
Tanaka, the older brother of three-division world champion Kosei Tanaka, earned a spot in the semifinals after a 4-1 points win over 2016 Olympics silver medalist Yuberjen Martinez in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Carlos Yulo failed to win a medal for the Philippines after finishing fourth in the Men’s Vault finals. Armenian Artur Davtyan beat Yulo for the bronze medal. Davtyan finished with a score of 14.733, while Yulo had a score of 17.16. (EKA)