Boxer Nesthy Petecio upsets top seed Taiwanese foe, books spot in q’finals

By David Tristan Yumol, CNN Philippines

Filipino female featherweight bet Nesthy Petecio showed why she is the world champion in her division.

Petecio scored an upset win on Monday against top seed Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei in the Round-of-16 as the Filipino pugilist booked her spot in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics women’s featherweight tournament at the Kokugikan Arena.

Three judges scored 29-28 in favor of Petecio, while the remaining two gave the same score to Lin.

Petecio, who won the gold in the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Championships, landed solid punches in the first round to get the nod of four out of five judges.

However, Lin became more physically aggressive in the second round to go all out in the deciding third round.

The Filipino boxer clung on to the close win by connecting straight hits to the more pesky Taiwanese foe.

With her victory, Petecio is a win away from securing an Olympic medal. Boxers who will lose in the semifinals will automatically clinch a bronze, while the last two fighters in the division will either go for the gold or silver.

The 29-year-old Davao native will face Colombia’s Yeni Arias in the quarterfinals on July 28, Wednesday, at 10:00 a.m.