Paris Olympics: Nesthy Petecio banks on masterful game plan vs taller foe

India’s Jaismine, left, fights Team Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio in their preliminary women’s 57kg boxing match at the Paris Olympics 2024, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/John Locher)

MANILA, Philippines — Familiarity helped Team Philippines’ boxing bet Nesthy Petecio open her 2024 Paris Olympics campaign on a rousing note.

Petecio kicked off her gold medal campaign with a unanimous victory over Jaismine Lamboria to advance to the women’s 57-kilogram boxing tournament round-of-16 early Wednesday (Manila time) in France.

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medalist, who stands 5-foot-2, was able to stand taller against the 5-foot-9 Indian thanks to the perfectly executed gameplan crafted by Reynaldo Galido to neutralize her foe’s advantage.

“It’s a good thing I sparred with her. That’s really what I said after our weigh-in. I’m so thankful to Coach Galido because that was our game plan,” said Petecio in an interview with Paris Olympics broadcaster One Sports.

“Coach Galido and I worked on making sure I couldn’t be reached at her distance, making it harder for her while I could still reach her. The distance was the most important thing. We trained for it and studied it.”

Galido said their fight strategy was to be more aggressive since they were facing a taller competitor.

“She’s very tall, so we made a game plan where we couldn’t play from a distance. You have to get to her first and hurt her so she’ll be scared of you. And that’s what Nesthy likes—her overhand punches—so no matter how tall she is, Nesthy can reach her,” said Petecio’s coach.

“Her range is good, and we studied that right after she sparred. All our training paid off.”

READ: Team Philippines in Paris Olympics 2024: Meet the athletes

Galido will bank again with their familiarity of the French foe, believing Petecio will continue to show no fear amid facing a home bet.

“We sparred with her several times in Bulgaria and Thailand. It’s her home crowd, but Nesthy doesn’t mind that. She’s a warrior. She’s not a rookie. Nesthy is ready to face anyone,” said the Team Philippines coach.

Petecio is determined to sustain her momentum from a strong start, enjoying the support of Filipino fans in Paris after celebrating her first victory with an “Eyy”—the latest trending expression and loose hand gesture in the Philippines, popularized by the girl group BINI.

“It’s a really good start for me and the team. I hope it continues because our next opponent is France,” she said. “It’s a huge help to hear the crowd cheering for the Philippines. It really hypes me up.”