There were no shortage of drama, celebrations and iconic moments this year in Philippine sports and there were some that stood out from the rest.
For the next several days, INQUIRER.net runs down the top 7 sports stories of 2019.
As far as amateur Filipino women’s boxers are concerned, no one else came close to Nesthy Petecio in the past year.
In a span of less than two months, Petecio made herself the undisputed queen of female featherweights when she captured the gold medal in the 2019 Aiba Women’s World Boxing Championships in October and the Southeast Asian Games in December.
Petecio became the second Filipina in eight years to win a gold medal in the World Championships since teammate Josie Gabuco ruled the global stage in 2012 during the light flyweight tournament.
Making the feats sweeter was the fact that it was her first time winning the golds in her national team stint since taking home the bronze in the 2012 Asian Championships.
The 5-foot-2 Davaoeña constantly worked on her craft that eventually led to her showdown against Liudmila Vorontsova in the finals of the Worlds, where she took a hard-fought 3-2 decision in her opponent’s home of Russia.
Barely two months after, Petecio once again brought pride to the country, beating Myanmar’s Oo Nwe Ni in the featherweight final for the top prize.
After a successful year, she is hoping to extend her reign as she tries to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.