MANILA, Philippines – An Olympic boxing gold remains elusive for the Philippines as Nesthy Petecio suffered an upset loss.
Petecio concluded her Paris Games run with a bronze after a split decision loss to Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the women’s 57kg semifinal at the Roland Garros Stadium on Wednesday, August 7 (Thursday, August 8, Manila time).
Eyeing a return trip to the final after bagging silver in the Tokyo Olympics, the 32-year-old Petecio instead got nosed out by an opponent 12 years younger as Szeremeta hacked out a 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 win.
Petecio swept the judges’ scorecard in the opening round, but Szeremeta won fierce exchanges in the last two rounds to advance.
“I thought it was going my way this time. I really believed that I would get it. But the win was not given to us,” said Petecio in Filipino. “I’m still thankful because I fought well.” – Rappler.com