HERGIE Bacyadan will have a warm welcome in her Olympic debut.
The one-time world vovinam champion drew no less than top seed Li Qian of China in her first fight in the heaviest weight category in the women’s division following the draw held on Thursday before the Paris Olympics officially gets underway 24 hours later.
Li, 34, was silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, and gold medal winner in the 2018 AIBA Women’s World Championships, 2017 Asian Women’s Championships, and 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games as a middleweight.
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Bacyadan and Li tangle in the round-of-16 of the 75-kilogram weight class on July 31, with the Filipina needing a major upset to reach the quarterfinals and move a win away from a podium finish.
Meanwhile, medal hopefuls Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial drew byes in their respective weight divisions even as silver medalist Nesthy Petecio and debutant Aira Villegas go through separate round-of-32 matches to open their bids.
Despite Bacyadan being tested early, Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) secretary-general Marcus Jarwin Manalo remains positive about the campaign of the five-man national boxing team.
“There is no such thing as a ‘good draw’ at the Olympics. Everyone went through the rigorous qualifying tournaments, and these are the best in the world with their big dreams on the line,” he said.
Villegas, 28, gets the ball rolling in the women’s 50 kg class at the Arena Paris Nord on July 28.
Making her debut in the Summer Games, Villegas will be up against Yasmine Mouttaki of Morocco, a bronze medal winner at minimumweight in the AIBA Women’s World Championship in 2023 held in New Delhi, in a round of 32 clash.
Two days later, Petecio and Marcial climb the ring as they bid to follow up their podium finishes in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Petecio, a runner-up in the Japanese capital four years ago, tangles with Jasmie Lamboria of India in the round-of-32 of the women’s 57kg division. The 22-year-old Indian stands 5-foot-9, and her grandfather Hawa Singh was a two-time Asian Games gold medalist.
Petecio unseeded
Incidentally, Petecio isn’t seeded in her division where Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei is ranked No. 1. The Filipina stunned Lin in the preliminaries of the Tokyo Games, 3-2, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Marcial, bronze medalist in Tokyo and seeded seventh in the men’s 80 kg division, will have his hands full in the round-of-16 against Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev after drawing a bye.
Paalam sees action in his first bout the same day as Bacyadan on July 31.
The 26-year-old Paalam, a native of Talakag, Bukidnon, is also unseeded in the men’s 57 kg class despite a silver medal finish in Tokyo, although he’s fighting as a featherweight for the first time. Ireland’s Jude Gallagher is his round-of-16 opponent.
“Our boxers are ready to go,” said Manalo from the stylish French capital.
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