FOUR Filipino boxers led by top guns Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam kept alive their Olympic hopes in the 2024 World Qualification Tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy early Saturday.
Petecio booked a quarterfinals berth in the women’s 57kg following a 5-0 win over Nancy Tas of Germany.
The 31-year-old Filipina, silver medal winner in the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, will meet Maud van der Toorn of the Netherlands on Sunday (Manila time). The Dutch also advanced following a similar shutout of Jennifer Fernandez of Spain to arrange the showdown with Petecio.
The Davao native need no less than a place in the finals to earn a berth in the Paris Games set later in August.
Paalam meanwhile, made it to the Round of 16 behind a 3-1 decision over Andrey Bonilla of Mexico in the men’s 57 kg. Like Petecio, Paalam is also looking to earn a return trip to the Olympics following a similar silver medal feat in Tokyo.
Up next for the 25-year-old Filipino is Shukur Ovezov of Turkmenistan, a close 3-2 winner over Iranian Daniyal Shahbakhsh.
Aira Villegas and Rogen Ladon are the other Philippine bets still fighting for slots in the Paris Games from the 10-man team sent by the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP).
Villegas reached the women’s 50 kg Round of 16 behind a 3-2 squeaker against Mckenzie Wright of Canada.
A win over Sofie Vinter Rosshaug will have Villegas making it to the quarterfinals. Rosshaug outclassed Sadia Bromand of Afghanistan earlier.
Ladon was already in the Round of 16 of the men’s 51kg class, where he will take on Kiaran MacDonald of Great Britain. The younger brother of Jojin Ladon once represented the country to the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Games.
Already out of contention in the first boxing qualifier to the Paris Olympics were Claudine Veloso, Riza Pasuit, Hergie Bacyadan, Mark Ashley Fajardo, Ronald Chavez Jr., and John Marvin.
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