Nesthy Petecio advances to round of 16 of Olympic boxing qualifiers

FILE–Filipino boxer Nesthy Petecio eyes passage to the Paris Olympics. —POOL PHOTO

Nesthy Petecio provided a bright spot for what was a challenging outing for Team Philippines late Thursday in the First Olympic World Qualifier at Busto Arzizio, Italy, advancing to the next round with another dominant performance.

Petecio advanced to the round of 16 of the women’s featherweight division with a 5-0 drubbing of Romania’s Maria Claudia Nechita.

The road remains long for Petecio, but the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) remains confident the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist is right on track for another Summer Games appearance in Paris later this year.

READ: Nesthy Petecio gets KO start to Olympic chase

“She has the toughest task here because there are only two Olympic quotas available in her weight class in this tournament; but she is very capable of getting it done,” said Marcus Manalo, the Abap executive director, told the Inquirer in a message early Friday morning.

“Nesthy seems to be in good form in her first two bouts as she was able to dominate and put both opponents in the canvas,” Manalo added.

Petecio won a referee-stopped contest in her opening bout.

READ: Nesthy Petecio eyes Asian Games gold in what could be her last shot

Day five of the Paris qualifiers didn’t go as well for the rest of the Filipino crew.

Claudine Veloso lost, 5-0, to Japan’s Mikoto Harada even as Mark Ashley Fajardo dropped an eyebrow-raising 3-2 decision to Jose Manuel Viafara Fory of Colombia.

“We feel really bad for him,” Manalo said. “The scorecard was basically tied after two rounds with two judges for Colombian, two judges for us, and one judge at 19-all.

“Then Fajardo knocked down the Columbian in the third round. While both were exhausted, the judges should have given the last round to Fajardo 5-0. I couldn’t understand what convinced the two judges that the Colombian won in the last round despite being knocked down and having no clear punches.”

Rising talent Ronald Chavez Jr., meanwhile, lost a referee-stopped contest against Jordan’s Zeyad Eashash while hard-punching John Marvin lost to Kevin Kuadjovi of Togo, 3-2.

“Obviously a tough day for us but tomorrow is another day and we are optimistic with the four veteran boxers remaining in the tournament,” Manalo said.

In evening matches late Friday, Carlo Paalam resumes his hunt for a Paris ticket when the Tokyo Olympics silver winner battles Mexican Andrea Bonilla while Petecio tests Germany’s Nancy Canan Tas for a shot at the quarterfinals.

Aira Villegas, meanwhile, takes on Canada’s McKenzie Wright in a round-of-32 duel.