Petecio approaches Tokyo Olympics with new mindset, clean slate

Nesthy Petecio during the gold medal match in the 30th Southeast Asian Games. INQUIRER PHOTO/SHERWIN VARDELEON

MANILA, Philippines — Nesthy Petecio had one hell of a year in 2019 winning two gold medals in as many major international competitions, but all those achievements won’t be her driving factor when she steps into the ring for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The featherweight from Davao del Sur said she’ll enter the Summer Games with a new slate and the accolades she received in 2019 are all in the back drawer.

“My mindset is different. I’m not bringing my previous records or whatever I won before,” said Petecio in Filipino. “This is a new game, a new tournament, a new challenge. This is a new battle.”

“Whatever my achievements I got are in the past now. That’s over, I’ve already done that and made a name out of it. So this new challenge in front of me will be for a new record, a new achievement, for a new medal.”

Petecio had her biggest prize to date in October of 2019 when she won gold in the AIBA World Boxing Championships defeating Liudmila Vorontsova via split decision.

She then followed it up with the gold in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in December.

The Olympics, however, is a first for her and she’s just the second Filipino woman boxer to qualify for the Summer Games when she accumulated enough points for her qualification in March 2021.

Her teammate Irish Magno was the first Filipino woman boxer to qualify when she got her ticket in the Asia-Oceania Olympic qualifiers a year earlier.

“I’m going to forget about my previous record because I can’t bring that into the Olympics, this is a new game,” said Petecio. “They’ll think ‘oh this girl is a world champion, won a gold.’ Well, can I use those achievements, those accolades? Can I throw those medals at my opponent and I can get a point? Will I get an automatic win? No.”

“What I need to is do work hard there.”

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