THE Philippines is celebrating a second world champion in less than 24 hours.
Nesthy Petecio overcame a partisan crowd to beat hometown bet Liudmila Vorontsove and win the gold in the Aiba World Women’s Championships Sunday in Ulan-Ude, Russia.
Petecio pulled off a split decision, 3-2, to rule the featherweight class and became the second Filipino athlete to become world champion for the second straight day.
Carlos Yulo topped the men’s floor event Saturday to bag the gold in the 49th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
Judges from Australia (30-27), Korea (30-27), and Ireland (29-28) saw the fight in favor of Petecio, while the two others from Japan (30-27) and Argentina (29-28) had it for the Russian fighter.
"Nesthy deserved the win. Not only because she fought brilliantly, but also because she sacrificed so much for this," said Alliance of Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP) President Ricky Vargas in a statement.