PHILIPPINE boxing suffered a heavy casualty on Tuesday as Olympic medalist Aira Villegas was upset in her maiden bout at the 20th Asian Games.
The 31-year-old Filipina suffered a 5-0 loss to Sakshi Chaudhary of India in the round-of-32 of the women’s 51kg class at the Nishio gymnasium in Nagoya, Japan.
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Villegas served as the flagbearer during the opening ceremonies last weekend and was among the country's top bets for a podium finish in the quadrennial meet.
The 26-year-old Sakshi - who also has an Indian model and actress namesake in her country - is not a patsy fighter either.
She is the reigning 51kg gold medalist in the Commonwealth Games 2026 and was a two-time World Youth champion.
But the road remains tough for the Indian fighter as she next faces Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan, the reigning wold champion at 51kg.
Nonetheless, it was a frustrating day for Villegas, the bronze medalist in the same weight category during the 2024 Paris Olympics, who admitted her Indian foe's 5-foot-5 height bothered her a bit.
Villegas stands 5-foot-2.
There's no excuses though, for the native of Tacloban City, who ironically, was also booted out in the first round of the women's 50kg class during the 2022 Hangzhou Asiad opposite Oyuntsetsegiin Yesugen of Mongolia.
The compact PH boxing team is now down to just five fighters - including Olympic medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medal winner Eumir Marcial has skipped participating in the Asiad after fighting in his latest bout as a pro just two days ago,
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