Women boxers carry PH fight in Olympic qualifiers

FILE–Nesthy Petecio.–POOL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Women boxers carried the day for Team Philippines and cushioned the loss of Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam late Sunday night in the First Olympic World Qualifier at Busto Arzizio, Italy.

Tokyo Games silver medalist Nesthy Petecio scored a 5-0 drubbing of Dutch fighter Maud Van der Toorn advancing to the semifinals of the match and moving closer to securing a berth in the Paris Olympics later this year.

Aira Villegas meanwhile, shut out Sofie Vinter of Denmark, 5-0, to advance to the quarterfinals and prop her own Paris bid.

READ: Nesthy Petecio advances to round of 16 of Olympic boxing qualifiers

“Aira and Nesthy had dominant wins earlier and they will definitely go for the Olympic quota tomorrow,” Marcus Manalo, the executive director of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap), told the Inquirer in a message early Monday morning.

Carlo Paalam.–CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

READ: Nesthy Petecio gets KO start to Olympic chase

While Villegas and Petecio, whose path to the Olympics is longer because her featherweight class only offers limited quota slots, are still in the hunt for Paris tickets, Paalam will have to hunt for his slot in another qualifier.

The Cagayan de Oro native was pulled from the fight against Turkmenistan’s Shukur Ovezov because of an injury he suffered in a victory over Mexican Andrea Bonilla in his previous bout.

“Carlo sustained a shoulder injury from his previous bout when his Mexican foe slammed him to the canvas.,” Manalo said. “We tried to manage the pain for this bout but he still couldn’t throw a punch with this right. To prevent further damage, the coaches decided to stop the fight in the second round.