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| Nesthy Petecio tearfully rejoices after claiming the silver medal in her maiden Olympic stint. Reuters |
By Ozzy Alaba
MANILA — And Nesthy Petecio ended her maiden Olympic journey on a silver lining.
The Filipina fighter's pursuit for Olympic gold met its end
on Tuesday afternoon, succumbing to Japan's Sena Irie on unanimous decision to settle for
silver in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women's featherweight boxing finals at the
Kokugikan Arena.
Petecio struggled to find her groove as she fell prey to
Irie's punching aggression and never found her footing from there, submitting
to a bitter 28-29, 28-29, 28-29, 29-30, 27-30 loss on the official scorecards.
It also marked her third defeat on the home bet's hands in
their four bouts.
Despite losing, the reigning world feather queen still
marked a historic feat for being the first Filipina boxer to win an Olympic
medal in the country's 97-year Summer Games campaign.
She also notched the boxing squad's first silver in their three-medal
haul in the current Olympiad, adding to Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial's two
assured plums.
Before battling the 20-year-old, the Davao del Sur pride
annexed her Olympic golden shot by escaping Italy's Irma Testa through a split
decision semifinal victory.
Petecio was pushed on a cliff's edge right from the get-go
when the Japanese uncorked powerful jabs enough to gain the five judges' plugs
in the opening salvo.
The SEA Games multi-medalist, however, responded with a
fierce fightback, landing deadly hits of her own in the second canto to earn
the nods of four judges.
But Nesthy's supposed comeback just fell short.
Though both sides exchanged strong blows on each other down
the wire, the red-clad still bowed down on the Yonago native via scorecard
points in the endgame, carving a bittersweet conclusion to her Olympic stint.
While going home as a runner-up, Nesthy is still set to
receive at least P17 million in cash incentives, alongside with a condominium
and free airline flights from the government and private sectors.
Follow him on Twitter: @English4Lyf
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