Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio failed to win second gold medal for the Philippines after she was defeated by fierce rival Sena Irie of Japan in the women’s featherweight boxing final at the Tokyo Olympics.
Despite this, Petecio received a lot of praise and appreciation for winning the silver medal after four wins before meeting the Japanese competitor.
Irei got it right away in the first round, but by the second round, the Filipina boxer had recovered from her bold onslaught.
Nesthy tried to catch up in the third round, but he was unable to do so since the Japanese boxer had more clear blows, resulting in a 0-5 victory.
Petecio and Irie are meeting for the fourth time, and the Japanese boxer has won three of their previous encounters.
Irie and Petecio have fought four times since 2019, with Irie winning her first fight against Petecio in Thailand in the 2019 ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships.
Later that year, Petecio avenged herself by defeating Irie by majority decision in the quarterfinals of the 2019 AIBA World Championships in Russia, where she went on to win the world title.
In March 2020, Irie would defeat Petecio once more in Jordan, denying the Filipina an outright Olympic place in the Asia and Ocenia Olympic Boxing Qualifiers.
Petecio had to overcome four pugs, including World No. 1 Yu Ting Lin, on his way to the gold medal match.
She most recently defeated Italy’s taller and longer Irma Testa in the semifinals to set up the match against Irie.
Petecio equaled Anthony Villanueva’s 1964 Tokyo Olympics performance and Onyok Velasco’s 1992 Atlanta Olympics performance, both of whom won silver medals in contentious fights.
Eumir Marcial and Carlo Paalam are still in contention to win gold for the Philippines at the Tokyo Olympics.