SPORTS SHORTS 182: NESTHY PETECIO WINS OVER CASTANEDA OF COLOMBIA AND IS ASSURED OF A BRONZE, WILL FIGHT ITALIAN TESTA FOR THE SILVER MEDAL
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 28 Jul 2021
Nesthy Petecio is now assured of at least a bronze medal after outpointing Yeni Arias Castaneda of Colombia in the women’s featherweight quarterfinal of the 2020 Olympics at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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This is her third victory following an easy win over Congo’s Marcelat Sakobi last Saturday, and her upset triumph of world's No. 1 Yu-Ting Lin of Chinese Taipei in her second bout on Monday.
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Petecio constantly connected sure punches on the Colombian both from the distance and in the inside. It will be boxing's first Olympic medal since Onyok Velasco won a silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
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She will vie for a finals berth on July 31 against Italian Irma Testa, a taller and stronger opponent who has the same fighting strategy as that of world No. 1 Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, whom Petecio defeated in the round of 16.
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Testa used her longer reach to the hilt in outpointing Canadian Caroline Verge, 5-0, in the her bout following Petecio's victory. She is a 23-year old boxer from Assisi and is ranked No. 5 in the world, higher than Petecio's rank at 7th.
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Petecio secured the country’s second Olympic medal after Hidilyn Diaz won a historic gold in weightlifting on Monday. The victory of Petecio guarantees the first multi-medal performance by a Philippine delegation in 89 years.
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In 1932, the Philippines won three bronze medals in the Los Angeles Games courtesy of Simeon Toribio in men's high jump, Teofilo Ildefonso in swimming and in bantamweight boxing by Jose Villanueva, father of 1964 silver medalist Anthony.
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Australian coach Don Abnett of the Philippine boxing team was very confident of Nesthy Petecio winning her succeeding matches after she outscored world No. 1 Lin in their boxing round-of-16 match on Monday.
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The coach's confidence was converted into incredible wins when Petecio, the 2019 World Women's Boxing Championship featherweight gold medalist and now world 's No. 7 ranked featherweight, advanced into the semifinals and has secured a podium finish, needing two more wins for a gold medal.
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The 29-year old Petecio has also defeated the taller and long-limbed Lin, as she overcame the most difficult stumbling block of her quest to become the second gold medalist in the Olympic history of the Philippines.
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Petecio knew she can't afford to be complacent after a quarterfinal win against Colombia’s Castaneda on Wednesday. “We know her next opponent will be tough, but we’re very confident," said Abnett, who so far has coached the four-boxer Philippine team that has yet to taste a loss.
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On Thursday, Eumir Felix Marcial, the middleweight No. 4 seed and one of the bets for the gold medal, will fight Younes Nemouchi of Algeria in the 69-76kg division while Irish Magno will clash with Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the women's flyweight class.
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Flyweight Carlo Paalam, winning 4-1 over Ireland’s Brendan Irvine on Monday, collides with Algeria’s Mohamed Flissi on Saturday in a round-of-16 match.
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When the Lupang Hinirang was played following Diaz's awarding of the gold medal at the Tokyo International Forum, it was actually not the first time that the Philippine national team was sung in the Olympic Games.
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It was first played in the 1988 Seoul Olympics when bowler Arianne Cerdena won for the Philippines its first gold medal. However, the achievement was not officially counted in the overall medal tally as bowling was played only as a demonstration sport. It never became an official Olympic sport.
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Cerdena, then 26-year-old, topped the multi-nation competitors and Lupang Hinirang was played for the first time ever in the Olympics at the Royal Bowling Center in Seoul to honor her feat. Bowling, since that time, has not been included again in the Olympics.
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Elreen Ando concluded her first Olympic participation with a seventh place finish in the women's 64 kg weightlifting event on Tuesday, July 27. The 22-year-old Cebuana posted a 100kg snatch and 122kg clean and jerk for a total of 222kg in her debut in the Summer Games.
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Canada's Maude Charron seized the gold with a total lift of 236kg, while Italy's Giorgia Bordignon bagged the silver with 232kg total, and Chinese-Taipei's Chen Wen-Huei settled for the bronze with a lift of 230kg.
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Ando won two silver medals and one bronze medal in the Asian Weightlifting Championships, which earned her a slot in the Tokyo Olympics via continental allocation. She also won the 2019 Manila Southeast Asian Games silver medal.
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In swimming, Luke Gebbie set a new Philippine record, while Remedy Rule advanced to the semifinals in the 4th Day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics swimming competition on Tuesday, July 27, at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. Gebbie set a record of 49.64 seconds to finish fifth in heat 5 of the men's 100m freestyle.
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Judoka Kiyomi Watanabe bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics judo tournament when she suffered a swift ippon loss to Cristina Cabana Perez of Spain in the women's -63kg round of 32 match. Cabana Perez took only 38 seconds to end the match as she scored an ippon against Watanabe.
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Tokyo Olympics Medal Standings
Top ten countries
1. Japan: Gold 11 Silver 4 Bronze 5
2. United States: Gold 10 Silver 10 Bronze 9
3. China: Gold 10 Silver 5 Bronze 8
4. ROC: Gold 7 Silver 8 Bronze 4
5. Great Britain: Gold 5 Silver 6 Bronze 4
6. Australia: Gold 6 Silver 1 Bronze 8
7. Republic of Korea: Gold 3 Silver 2 Bronze 5
8. France: Gold 3 Silver 2 Bronze 3
9. Netherlands: Gold 2 Silver 5 Bronze 2
10. Canada: Gold 2 Silver 3 Bronze 4
Philippines is at No. 26 with 1 gold medal
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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