Nesthy Petecio leads off Team Philippines’ Saturday special

Team Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio celebrates her victory over France’s Amina Zidani at the end of their women’s 57kg preliminaries round of 16 boxing match during the Paris Olympics Games at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on August 2, 2024. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

There was a moment in the second round when Nesthy Petecio smoked Frenchwoman Amina Zidani with a scorching left that wobbled the hometown bet. It looked, for a passing second, like the No. 3 seed dropped to a knee as a result of the punch.

There was no count from the referee, though.

Luckily, it didn’t matter.

“When she got hit with my hook, I really felt my fist hit her plus she got hurt with body shots. She really got hurt with those body shots,” Petecio told local Olympics broadcaster OneSports.

That was the exchange that turned things around for Petecio, who reached the quarterfinals of the women’s 57 kg boxing event early on Saturday morning in the Paris Olympics.

Petecio was the first of four medal favorites that saw action on Saturday for the Philippines, with EJ Obiena kicking off his pole vault podium bid.

Obiena cleared 5.75m in the preliminary, easily making it to the final of the event where he is expected to figure prominently in the medal hunt.

After that sequence, Petecio looked settled, far from the boxer who in the first round gingerly pawed at the air as she looked to unlock some unreachable space close to the longer Zidani. Foiled by her foe’s reach and timely counters, Petecio fell behind in the first round on three judges’ scorecards.

“I was sizing her up,” Petecio said. “I was thinking about avoiding her touches but she was aggressive. When I saw the scores [after Round 1], I thought: ‘this can’t be.’ I can’t lose here.”

Chinese next

At the break, as her corner worked to loosen her arm muscles, the instruction to her was clear: “Be unpredictable. Be unpredictable.”

She responded well in the second round.

And while Petecio advanced to the quarterfinals with a victory over the favored Zidani, which was far closer than the 4-1 tally of judges’ scorecards, things will only get more difficult for the former featherweight world champion.

Petecio won, 30-27, on one judge’s card and was up just a round, 29-28, on the three others. A fifth judge saw Zidani winning, 29-28.

The Tokyo Games silver medalist will next face China’s Xu Zichun, who won a split decision against Colombia’s Valeria Arboleda Mendoza in a later bout, on Monday (Manila time).

Zidani managed to send a packed North Paris Arena crowd in delirious cheers as she thrived on counters against the smaller Filipino, but Petecio remained relentless as she uncorked combinations that kept her in the medal hunt in the glamorous French capital.

“My coach told me to stay steady and punch right away and thankfully, I did it in the second round.”

A win in her next fight will guarantee Petecio a bronze.

Paalam bids adieu

Team Philippines’ Carlo Paalam in the men’s 57kg quarter-final boxing match during the Paris Olympics at the North Paris Arena, in Villepinte on August 3, 2024. (Photo by MOHD RASFAN / AFP)

Later in the night, Carlo Paalam was shown the door in the men’s 57 kg division after losing an ultra-tight quarterfinal duel against Australia’s Charlie Senior.

Senior defeated Paalam, 3-2, in a dramatic battle that featured furious exchanges in the final two rounds after a tentative start by both boxers in their quarterfinal duel at North Paris Arena.

Paalam was looking to win a second Olympic medal after finishing with a silver in Tokyo. Instead, he joins fellow eliminated boxers Eumior Marcial and Hergie Bacyadan at the sidelines, leaving the Philippines with two fighters left, Petecio and Aira Villegas.