MANILA – Aira Villegas assured the Philippines of a second medal in the Paris Olympics after stunning host country's Wassila Lkhadiri in a tight women's flyweight boxing quarterfinal battle early Sunday (PH time) at the Paris North Arena in Villepinte.
Villegas exerted enough effort to convince the judges that she was better than Lkhadiri en route to a razor-thin split decision win.
Villegas earned the nod of three judges (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) while the other two scored for the French (30-27, 29-28).
Villegas said all her matches will be for teammates Carlo Paalam, Eumir Marcial and Hergie Bacdayan, who are out of medal contention.
“Inaalay ko rin 'to sa mga kasamahan ko, kina Eumir, Hergie, tapos kay Carlo kanina. Nalungkot ako pero sabi ko kailangan ko siyang gawing motivation para ibawi 'yung kasamahan ko (I dedicate this to Eumir, Hergie and Carlo. I feel sad for them but I'm using it as my motivation to make up for their losses),” Villegas told One News.
Assured of at least a bronze hours after Carlos Yulo got the Philippines to the medal board with his floor exercise gold, Villegas can upgrade her medal to a sure silver if she beats Turkiye's Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the semifinals early Wednesday (PH time) as action shifts to the iconic Roland Garros Stadium in downtown Paris.
Unlike Villegas, Cakiroglu entered the semifinals smoothly with a unanimous decision win over Finland's Pihla Kaivo-Oja.
Seeing action for Team Philippines on Sunday are John Cabang Tolentino, men’s 110m hurdles Round 1 at 5:50 p.m.; Nesthy Petecio, women's boxing 57kg quarterfinals for another sure bronze at 9:30 p.m.; and Yulo in the vault finals starting at 10:24 p.m.(PNA)
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