2024 PARIS OLYMPICS 8: CARLOS YULO WINS SECOND OLYMPIC GOLD, NESTHY PETECIO AND AIRA VILLEGAS ENTER SEMIFINALS AND ARE ASSURED OF MEDALS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 05 Aug 2024
Carlos Yulo concluded his glittering 2024 Paris Olympic Games campaign with another historic first double Olympic gold medalist for the country after ruling the men’s artistic gymnastics vault final at the Bercy Arena on Sunday, August 4.
First he had tremendous success in his golden achievement in the floor exercises. Then the 24-year-old Yulo averaged 15.116 points to become champion in the men's vault finals.
Yulo amazed the audience with his first vault and scored 15.433 points then netted 14.800 points in his second vault, getting first place after finishing fourth in the same event in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Yulo did not win any medal from the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2023 in Antwerp, Belgium but later on become the first Filipino to win multiple medals in a single Olympics.
* * *
Boxer Nesthy Petecio advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 57kg division in the Paris Games after dominating China’s Xu Zichun at the North Paris Arena on Sunday, August 4.
Petecio won convincingly via unanimous decision, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, to assure herself of at least a bronze medal after she won a silver in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Petecio will be facing Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the semifinals. Their bout will be on August 8 at 3:46 a.m. (Manila time).
* * *
In February 2023, Aira Villegas suffered a heartbreaking quarterfinal loss in the 74th Strandja Cup in Bulgaria at the hands of France’s Wassila Lkhadiri. This time at the biggest sporting event of the world at the Paris Olympics 2024 in France, the Filipina took her revenge.
Villegas scored a close quarterfinal win over Lkhadiri early Sunday morning (Manila time) in the 50kg division of women’s boxing in Paris.
Villegas and the seventh-seeded hometown heroine Lkhadiri were tied that happened for the first time in the boxing competitions in the ongoing Games. After two rounds, one judge had the Filipino leading, the other had the Fernchwoman ahead while the remaining judges had everything deadlocked.
That made the third round even more exciting and filled with action as both ladies gave their all to convince the judges to score in their favor.
Villegas silenced the loudly cheering French crowd, unleashed a flurry of punches, tagging Lkhadiri with solid blows and evaded her opponent's retaliation until the final bell.
Villegas won on three judges’ score cards, all 29-28s, while a shocked Lkhadiri, won on two judges’ cards, 30-27 and 29-28. Villegas will face Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the semifinals on Aug. 7 (Manila time), with the in the 50kg category.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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