A payback and in memory of a former mentor.
Those were the motivations that kept Aira Villegas going in her quarterfinal bout against Wassila Lkhadiri of France, which the Filipina won by the skin of her teeth and assured her of a podium finish in the Paris Olympics.
Villegas, 29, eked out a 3-2 win against the hometown bet in a fight that was too close to call early Sunday morning (Manila time) - the result met by a widespread jeers from the capacity crowd at the North Paris Arena.
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The win allowed Villegas to make the women’s 50 kg class semifinals and earned her a measure of revenge against the seventh-seeded French boxer.
Lkhadiri beat Villegas the previous year in a similar quarterfinal bout in the 74th Strandia Cup in Bulgaria.
“Sabi ni coach (Reynaldo Galido) hahayaan mo ba na kunin niya ito,” Villegas recalled in between sobs on what was the instruction on her in the corner by her coaches going to the final round of the tightly-fought contest.
“Sabi ko, ‘Hindi, akin ito.’ Kasi last year natalo niya ako. Kaya dapat this year comeback ko to.”
The scorecards were all tied at that point going into the final three minutes.
“Sabi ko kailangan kong kunin itong last round,” said Villegas, who continued to shed tears.
True to her words, the first-time Olympian did win the round and the hotly-contested bout, allowing her to move just two wins from winning a possible first gold for Philippine boxing.
“Sige lang kahit tumama siya basta kailangan ko lang ng clear punch. Clear punch lang talaga,” Villegas said of what was going through her mind during that crucial final round of the fight.
In victory, Villegas also didn’t forget his three other fellow boxers who had already been eliminated earlier, including Tokyo Games silver medal winner Carlo Paalam.
“Inaalay ko rin ito sa mga kasamahan ko,” she said rattling the names of Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial, Hergie Bacyadan, and Paalam. “Kailangan gawin ko siyang motivation.”
Certainly last but not the least, Villegas remembered the memory of her late discoverer and mentor, Ed Picson, the former secretary-general and later president of ABAP (Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines).
“Inaalay ko rin ito kay Sir Ed. Siya yung kumuha sa akin kasi kababayan ko siya,” said Villegas of Picson, a provincemate in Tacloban City.
“Simula nung una may tiwala talaga siya na mag-o-Olympics ako. So happy ako na malungkot kasi hindi niya nakita na nag-qualify ako at eto nag-medal ako sa Olympics.”
Villegas will meet third seed Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey on August 7, with the winner advancing to the gold medal round.
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