SPORTS FACTS AND FIGURES 10: CARLO PAALAM AND NESTHY PETECIO STRUGGLE TO MAKE IT TO PARIS OLYMPICS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 10 Jan 2024
Boxers Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio won silver medals in the Tokyo Olympics but are now under pressure to qualify for next year's Games in Paris.
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Paalam currently fights at 57 kg, but considers decreasing to his old fighting weight which is 51 kg where he won a silver medal in Tokyo.
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Paalam, age 25 of Talakag, Bukidnon, has to make an instant decision on the weight class before the World Qualification Tournaments for Paris this year.
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After the world champion Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan ousted him out of the medal round in the 57 kg of the Hangzhou Asian Games, he said his opponents in the Asiad are all taller than him. But he did his best in every fight.
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He defeated a taller foe in Jordan’s Jajeh Abu in the round-of-32 and again prevailed over Uulu Seiitbek of Kyrgyzstan in the round-of-16, but his quickness and talent didn’t work effectively against Khalokov.
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His future Olympic opponents in Paris include Lyu Ping of China, Japan’s Shudai Harada, Salim Hossain of Bangladesh and Thailand’s Rujakran Juntrong, among others, and they are taller than the Filipino.
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Paalam won the bantamweight gold medal during the 2022 Asian championships in Amman, Jordan, and won two gold medals in the 2023 Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in the same category and in the 2019 SEA Games in Manila as a flyweight boxer.
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“I adjusted well (at 57 kg). I might have lost in the Asian Games, but I also won against rated boxers in this division and it only sharpened my skills and intelligence in the ring," said Paalam as quoted by Inquirer Sports. “They won’t take me for granted, now they know what I’m capable of," added Paalam.
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On the other hand, all Petecio has to do is to enter the semifinal round in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China to join the Paris Olympics. But she lost in the round of 16 in the women’s 57 kg class to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Ting, who avenged her defeat to Petecio in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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Petecio, age 31 of Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, will now be hurdling tougher obstacles in two Olympic qualifying opportunities. She has to make the grade either in the World Qualification Tournament 1 in Busto Arsizio, Italy, which begins on February 28 or the World Qualification Tournament 2 commencing on May 23 in Bangkok, Thailand.
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“The desire to compete in Paris has been stronger than ever. I consider this as my last shot before ending my career," said Petecio.
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There are six Olympic slots still available though in both tournaments. She has to join the finals of the Busto Arsizio, Italy qualifier while a semifinal slot in Bangkok, Thailand is good enough to book a ticket to Paris.
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“It could have been easier in the Asian Games, but I missed that chance. I expect the world qualifiers to be much tougher than the continental qualifier," admitted Petecio as told to Inquirer Sports.
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Sena Irie of Japan, the foe who foiled her bid for gold in Tokyo, has already retired, but the women’s featherweight category is still very competitive with Bulgaria’s Svetlana Staneva, Tunisia’s Khouloud Hlimi, Colombia’s Valeria Arboleda, Kazakhstan’s Karina Ibragimova, Lin and Tina Rahimi of Australia, among others.
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Another Olympic hero who struggled to qualify for Paris is weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, the first Filipino Olympic gold medalist. She really wanted to go on a fifth straight Summer Games and she was willing to move up to the 59-kg class after her old category was phased out from the 2024 Olympic schedule.
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Diaz-Naranjo also won a silver medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games at 55 kg, and she is well on her way to an Olympic spot, placing seventh in the 59 kg of the 2023 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships late last year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with two more qualifying tournaments remaining.
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The top 10 weightlifters in each weight category will advance to the Olympics after joining a series of five tournaments sanctioned by the IWF, and Diaz-Naranjo is targeting it in the Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, starting February 3 and the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand, beginning April 2.
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“The biggest challenge I’m facing is increasing my muscle mass to contend with the stronger competitors in our weight class. So far, I like my progress, and I now see that a medal in Paris is possible," said Diaz-Naranjo as told to Inquirer Sports.
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Sports History: January 10, 1985. Lenny Wilkens became the first to coach in 1,000 NBA games when his team Seattle SuperSonics defeated the Golden State Warriors, 89-86.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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