PETECIO COMES FROM BEHIND TO BEAT TESTA OF ITALY; FIGHTS FOR GOLD!
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 31 Jul 2021
Featherweight world champion Nesthy Petecio of the Philippines showed a lot grit to overcome her taller opponent Irma Testa of Italy to come out on top, 4-1, in their Women's featherweight semifinal bout at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan in the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In the first round Testa used her height and range advantage to potshot the shorter Petecio who could not find the opening to get inside. Testa got the nod of all the five judges in the first round 10-9.
In the second round, Petecio forced her way inside and connected with overhand rights and combinations as Testa seemed rattled against the rampaging Filipino who turned the tables and got the nod of the five judges, 10-9, to make the fight even at that point.
The shorter Nesthy Petecio brought the fight to Irma Testa of Italy during their 2020 Tokyo Olympics Women's featherweight semifinal bout in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, July 31, 2021.
Nesthy Petecio cries after winning her 2020 Tokyo Olympics semifinal bout against Irma Testa of Italy that assured her of at least a silver medal finish.
Petecio used the same strategy in the third round but did not get the same success as in the second round but had done enough to get the nod of the four judges. Final score: 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29 in Petecio's favor.
The judges were: Hichem Menchaoi of Tunisia, Pavlo Vasylynchu of Ukraine, Tsogtgerel Tserenkhand of Mongolia, Maksim Sulejmani of Australia and Manuel Vilarino of Argentina. The referee was Beau Campbell of the USA.
With the win, Petecio is now assured of a silver medal finish and will fight against the winner of the other semifinal bout between Karriss Artingstall of Great Britain and Sena Irie of Japan for the gold medal on Tuesday, Aug. 3. Artingstall vs Irie is scheduled later this evening.
Petecio earlier beat Marcelat Sakobi Matshu of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 5-0, in the round of 32. She then registered a huge upset victory against world No. 1 featherweight Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan, 3-2, in the round of 16 and then defeated Yeni Marcela Arias of Columbia, 5-0, in the quarterfinal round.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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