Aira Villegas assured of medal after close win over French bet

Team Philippines’ Aira Villegas, right, celebrates after defeating France’s Wassila Lkhadiri in their women’s 50kg quarterfinal boxing match at the Paris Olympics 2024, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

It was the finest of margins and Aira Villegas escaped with a victory that will change her life forever.

She even gets that chance to make that change worth more.

Villegas scored a tight quarterfinal victory over Wassila Lkhadiri early Sunday morning (Manila time) in the 50kg division of women’s boxing in the Paris Olympics at North Paris Arena.

READ: LIVE UPDATES: Team Philippines at Paris Olympics 2024 August 4

And a Philippine delegation that celebrated its first gold in this year’s Olympics—and just a second overall for the country ever—just added a guaranteed bronze medal that will be worth millions for the spitfire flyweight.

Villegas and the seventh-seeded Lkhadiri were locked in a deadlock that hasn’t quite happened yet in the boxing competitions in the French capital.

After two rounds, one judge had the Filipino up, the other had the Fernchwoman in the lead and the remaining judges has everything squared.

Team Philippines’ Aira Villegas, right, reacts during a fight with France’s Wassila Lkhadiri in their women’s 50kg quarterfinal boxing match at the Paris Olympics 2024, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/John Locher)

That forced both corners to egg on their fighters to produce something special in the third. And produce they did.

Lkhadiri unloaded first, a left hook that seemed to stagger Villegas and nearly doomed the Filipino’s campaign. In a battle so close, that shot could have given the hometown bet all the momentum for a victory.

But Villegas, driven by desperation, silenced a loud French crowd by coming alive with a flurry of her own, including a right hook that put tightened the match anew.

Villegas put on more activity toward the homestretch, tagging Lkhadiri with clean punches and then staying out of trouble after, allowing her to keep slightly ahead until the final bell.

Villegas won on three judges’ score cards, all 29-28s, while a stunned Lkhadiri, who stuck her tongue out in wide-eyed disbelief, won on two judges’ cards, 30-27 and 29-28.

Villegas will face Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the semifinals on Aug. 7 (Manila time), with the winner advancing to the final of the 50kg category assured of a silver medal.

Cakiroglu defeated Pihla Kaivo-Oja of Finland, 5-0, in their quarterfinal showdown.