TOKYO—Already assured of giving the Philippines its first women’s Olympic boxing medal, Nesthy Petecio is aiming for a metal that shines brighter when she steps atop the ring against an Italian rival who moved one division lighter to get into her comfort zone.
Petecio seeks a guaranteed silver medal when she takes on Italy’s Testa Irma at 12:39 p.m. Saturday (Manila time) in a featherweight semifinal clash at the Kokugikan Arena.
Petecio is fighting a taller Irma, just like tournament top seed, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu-Ting, who she eliminated in the round-of-16.
“We have a game plan on the next fight. The Italian girl weighed 60 kgs. She’s similar with the Taipei girl but she hooks and sways back,” said Philippine boxing coach Don Abnett of Australia. “So we’re going to take a counter move, but I’m comfortable with Nesthy’s performance.”
In an Associated Press report, Testa fought as a lightweight in Rio de Janeiro and struggled against stronger opponents. She moved to a lighter weight class in Tokyo and promptly secured a medal.
“Featherweight is best for me,” Testa said. “Every opponent and girl is very strong, but I feel better with myself. It’s very different. I’m very grateful.”
For Petecio, whose drive is boosted by Hidilyn Diaz’s weightlifting gold medal, her duel with the Italian falls under her goal of “one fight at a time.”
“One fight at a time, or we might tumble,” said Petecio, who watched Diaz’s golden conquest on television on Monday night from her room at the Olympic Village.
Petecio reached the medal round following an emphatic 5-0 victory over former tormentor, Colombia’s Yeni Marcela Arias Castaneda, on Wednesday, the same day Testa eliminated Canadian foe Caroline Veyre by the same score.
Only two wins separate Petecio from the Philippines’ first boxing gold medal. But Petecio, the 30-year-old world champion in Ulan-Ude in 2019, has her mind focused on each task at hand.
“I’m so inspired by Hidilyn’s victory, I watched her compete from start to finish,” she said. “Just like Hidilyn, I’m an athlete from Mindanao.”
Diaz hails from Zamboanga City while Petecio from Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur.
Carlo Paalam, the third man standing on the four-member Team Philippines’ boxing delegation, seeks a spot in the men’s flyweight medal round when takes on Algeria’s Mohamed Flissi earlier at 10:48 a.m. (Philippine time).
Paalam advanced to the quarterfinals following his 4-1 victory over Ireland’s Brendan Irvine and is hoping to be sharper against the Algerian to secure the country’s third medal in the Games.
“Carlo’s opponent is a very experienced boy. He’s boxing in the WSB [World Series of Boxing],” Abnett said of Flissi.
“But Carlo’s going to get moving, similar to the game plan that he did in his last fight, he probably just continue with that,” Abnett said. “If it’s working, then we won’t change it.”
Eumir Felix Marcial is the other Filipino still standing in the Tokyo Olympics boxing competitions.
The 25-year-old Marcial eliminated Algeria’s Younes Nemouchi via Referee Stopped Contest-Injury (RSC-I) with 19 seconds remaining in the first round on Thursday, advancing to the quarterfinals of the men’s middleweight class where he is the top seed.
Marcial also tries to assure the Philippines of another bronze medal on Sunday against Armenian pro Arman Darchinyan, who he has beaten in the 2018 AIBA World Championships.
Irish Magno, on the other hand, fell to Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong in the women’s flyweight round-of-16 via unanimous decision also on Thursday.