By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno | Philippine News Agency
Nesthy Petecio fell prey to Poland’s Julia Szeremata in a huge upset in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics women’s featherweight boxing event early Thursday (Philippine Time) at the Roland Garros Stadium.
Szeremata stepped up her game in the final two rounds to successfully swing the judges’ favor to her after what some thought was a showboating did not work in Round 1.
She did some grandstanding a few times in the opening period, but Petecio’s serious approach at the start gave the latter the nod of all five judges for that round.
Szeremata stepped up to the plate in the second round and eventually got four judges to give the round to her, with Indonesian judge Muhammad Pohan still unimpressed with the Pole and giving the round to Petecio instead.
Both pugilists went all out in Round 3, scoring on various exchanges, but within the final 10 seconds, Szeremata connected on some late shots to finish the bout strong.
The last push might have helped in convincing all the judges to give the round to Szaeramata, which ultimately led to the 4-1 split decision win.
Szeremata did not just assure herself of at least a silver medal but also denied a rematch between Petecio and controversial Taiwanese boxer Lin Yuting.
Lin had scored a unanimous decision win against Turkiye’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman in the first semifinal with all five judges scoring the bout 30-27.
Like Algerian welterweight Imane Khelif, Lin was also tagged in the gender-related issue that has hounded the entire Paris Olympics women’s boxing event.
Lin also has a case of differences in sexual development in which she acquired XY chromosomes and a high level of testosterone despite being a cisgender female.
Lin was also wrongfully accused of being transgender.
Had Petecio won, she would have gotten a chance to get back at Lin after losing to her at the onset of their Asian Games campaign last year in Hangzhou, China.
Instead, Petecio will settle for the bronze as the Philippine boxing team’s campaign ends without the elusive Olympic gold.
Medal contention
Earlier into the wee hours, golfer Bianca Pagdanganan was within close range of a possible medal finish after the opening round of the women’s golf event at Le Golf National.
After Round 1 concluded just after the clock struck midnight on Thursday (Philippine Standard Time), Pagdanganan—now the country’s top golfer following Yuka Saso’s decision to join the Team Japan—finished at even par 72, joining a 13-way tie for 13th place which included world No. 1 Nelly Korda of the United States.
Pagdanganan, Korda, and the rest of the logjam are just two strokes behind a four-way tie for third at two-under-par 70 among Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe, and the other American in the 60-woman field, Lilia Vu, the world number two.
Three bogeys in Holes 4, 5, and 7 hurt the world-ranked 125th Pagdanganan’s cause midway into the front nine as she was tied for fifth after the first three holes.
However, she bounced back with birdies in Holes 12, 15, and 18 to get out of the red zone.
Meanwhile, Dottie Ardina struggled in her opening salvo as she cleared the “Albatros course” for the first of four times at four-over-par 76.
She tallied five bogeys in total, including a double bogey in Hole 15 and a single bogey in the Par 5 Hole 18, which some deduced to be not as hard as it looked considering that world No. 17 Brooke Henderson of Canada, despite finishing two-over-par 74, hit an eagle putt in the final hole to get out of a deadlock with Ardina for 40th place.
World No. 10 Saso, who was with Pagdanganan for Team Philippines during their Olympic debuts in 2021, finished five-over-par 77 due to six bogeys including one double bogey in Hole 7.
World No. 7 Celine Boutier made good use of the home-field advantage as the French golfer took the early lead with a seven-under-par 65 highlighted by eight birdies against only one bogey.
World No. 56 Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa is second at four-under-par 68.
On the other hand, John Ceniza failed to complete his Olympic debut as he quickly crashed out of the Men’s 61-kilogram Weightlifting event on Wednesday at the South Paris Arena.
Ceniza failed to lift all his three attempts at 125 kg in the snatch and was no longer allowed to participate in the clean and jerk.
China’s Li Fabin won the gold after totaling 310 kg, including a new Olympic record of 143 kg in the snatch.
Thailand’s Theerapong Silachai took silver with 303 kg, while the United States’ Hampton Morris beat Malaysia’s Mohamad Aniq bin Kasdan by just one kilo for the bronze.
After Morris cleared 172 kg in the clean and jerk to take third place, bin Kasdan needed to lift 174 kg to overtake him again, but the Malaysian failed in both his attempts.
Morris still tried to snatch the silver from Silachai, but he missed out on a 178-kilogram lift right on the final attempt of the day.