SPORTS SHORTS 87: NESTHY PETECIO FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO BECOMING WORLD AMATEUR CHAMPION THEN TO THE OLYMPICS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 24 Mar 2021
Petecio.
Nesthy Petecio together with Carlo Paalam received automatic slots for the Tokyo Olympics in July 23 to August 8. The International Olympic Committee Boxing Task Force (IOC-BTF) granted Petecio and Paalam entry to the rescheduled quadrennial event by virtue of their high rankings.
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Nesthy Petecio was born in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur to Teodoro and Prescilla Petecio, with her father a farmer and her mother a housewife. Petecio started boxing at age 7 years. She was taught the basics of fighting by her father at their home in Tuban, Sta. Cruz.
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Their family moved to Davao City when her father got a job at Illuminada Farms. She took up boxing so that she can help her family earn extra income.
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In Davao City, she was recruited to be part of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines-Calinan boxing team which participated in the 2007 Smart National Youth and Women's Open Boxing Championships in Cagayan de Oro.
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In the said tournament, Petecio won the gold medal at the women's 50 kg. category and later became a member of the national women's boxing team at age 15 years.
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In the 2012 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, she won a bronze medal. She improved her performance in the 2015 Asia Championships in Wulanchabu, China by winning the silver medal.
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She competed at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. In the continental games, she defeated Gulzhaina Ubbiniyazova of Kazakhstan (3–0) in the preliminaries but lost to Yin Junhua of China (0–3) in the next round.
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Petecio won the silver medal in the 2014 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Jeju City, South Korea. She triumphed in succession against Defeated Manel Meharzi of Algeria (3–0), Maryna Malovana of Ukraine (3–0), Lu Qiong of China (3–0), Tiara Brown of USA (3–0), but lost to Zinaida Dobrynina of Russia (0–3) in the finals.
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At the 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia, she defeated successively Jucielen Romeu of Brazil (3–2), Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria,(3–2), Qiao Jieru of China (3–2), Sena Irie of Japan (4–1), and Karriss Artingstall of England (4–1).
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Petecio won the gold medal in the featherweight division after defeating hometown Russian heroine Liudmila Vorontsova (3-2) in the finals.
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At the end of 2019 in the Southeast Asian Games Petecio won the gold after failing to bring home the top prize in the biennial meet in her three previous attempts. She won only the bronze medal in the SEA Games in 2011 Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2013 Napyidaw, Myanmar, and in 2015 Singapore.
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Petecio is rated No. 5 in the women's featherweight division worldwide, and those Asian boxers higher ranked than her have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. So she won an automatic Olympic berth by virtue of his rating.
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Heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte will rematch with Alexander Povetkin on March 27 in Gibraltar. During their first encounter in August, Whyte was knocked out in five rounds by Povetkin. He would seek an immediate rematch based on the clause on the contract.
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A deal was finalized between world champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to unify the IBF, WBO, WBC, IBO, WBA world titles. In December 12, 2015, Joshua knocked Whyte out in seven rounds. Whyte predicts Fury-Joshua as a 50-50 fight and couldn't pick a winner.
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"Joshua had a loss against Ruiz, Fury had a draw against Wilder. Then Fury came off the back foot, was aggressive and knocked Wilder out. And Joshua came off the front foot, got on the back foot and got a points decision against Andy Ruiz," Whyte told the Ak & Barak show on DAZN.
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According to Elias Sports Bureau, The Houston Rockets have lost 20 straight games, the eighth team to do that within a single season. Houston was 11-10 when this streak began, making them the first team in NBA history to lose 20 consecutive games despite having a winning record when the streak began.
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Eleven-time All-Star, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and Los Angeles Lakers legend Elgin has died due to natural causes, the team announced in a statement on Monday afternoon. Baylor was 86 years old.
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Baylor was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1958 NBA Draft and he spent his entire career with the Lakers and was a part of the first-ever Los Angeles Lakers team.
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During his career, Baylor averaged 27.4 points, 13.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Baylor retired nine games after the start of the 1971-72 season because he thought he was no longer good enough to play anymore, as told by Benjamin Hoffman of the New York Times.
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Baylor’s career average of 27.4 points per game is third in NBA history, behind Michael Jordan with 30.1 and Wilt Chamberlain also with 30.1 average.
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The Philippines has competed in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games since its debut in the 1924 Paris Olympics, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Filipino athletes have also competed at the Winter Olympic Games five times since 1972.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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