Waiting game continues for Petecio

If there’s one thing Nesthy Petecio is yearning for the most, it’s for the enhanced community quarantine to ease up a bit.“It’s been hard training here,” the national boxer told the Inquirer in Filipino over the phone on Monday as she continued to keep count of the days that she’s been holed up in Baguio together with a number of fellow Philippine pugs.

The 28-year-old would’ve gone home, but the lockdown prevented her from traveling back to her hometown of Davao.It could get lonely, too, but Petecio said she is pulling through with the help of pal Alexcel Dargantes, who serves as a partner in mitts workouts and, of course, brother Norlan.

“I do three to four rounds of mitts with Alexcel inside our rooms, even though it’s a small room,” she said.

Petecio, who was supposed to gun for redemption in Paris after losing her Olympic qualifying stint in Jordan, said that’s all she could do as part of a big number of athletes playing the waiting game.

Making her wait all excruciating is the fact that even that Paris tournament was shelved indefinitely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was reported that Baguio will gradually reopen after May 16, when it hopes to shift to general community quarantine protocols, and that would give all the Team Philippine bets there some sort of luxury to come out and do some outdoor activities.In the meantime, Petecio said she is getting all the support she needs.

“The Abap (Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines) is always checking on us. Actually, we just had a Zoom meeting last May 9. President Ricky Vargas and even Sir Ed Picson were both there,” she said.

“They told us to put our safety first as we wait for the situation to get better—and for a cure to be discovered,” Petecio added. “It’s hard. But you can do it as long as you put your mind to it.” INQ