Pressure mounts on Petecio

With Aira Villegas out of the competition, all eyes are now on Nesthy Petecio to deliver for the vaunted boxing team at the Paris Olympics.

Petecio, the silver medalist in the previous Summer Games in Tokyo three years ago, emerged as the last woman standing for the national boxers after Eumir Marcial, Hergie Bacyadan, Carlo Paalam, and Villegas were eliminated.

Marcial and Bacyadan had brief Olympic stints as they crashed out in their respective Round of 16 matches, while Paalam made it as far as the quarterfinals before bowing to Charlie Senior of Australia in controversial fashion.

Villegas, who had the most impressive performance among the Filipino pugs as she marched to the semifinals until surrendering to a stronger, more superior Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey via unanimous decision early Wednesday at the Roland Garros Stadium.

Despite the loss, Villegas still emerged with a bronze medal, giving the country its third medal to increase its harvest to three after Carlos Yulo clinched a golden double in gymnastics over the weekend.

But the quest for Philippine boxing’s first ever Olympic gold medal will not be easy. Petecio will be facing 20-year-old Julia Szeremeta of Poland on Thursday morning for a chance for a shot at the gold medal match against either Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey or Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei, who is at the center of the gender row in the Paris Games.

Szeremeta may be young, but she displayed flashes of brilliance with her skills, height, length, and calm demeanor in the ring.

“I always have a smile on my face to (annoy) my opponent even more and show them that she didn't do anything to me with that punch,” said Szeremeta, who punched her Olympic ticket during the 1st World Qualification Tournament in Italy last year.

“I fight with a cool head. I try to calm down quickly in the ring, even if my opponent fouls me. Once or twice I got into the mindset that I had to win (by knockout), that I had to 'rip my opponent's head off'. It always ends badly."

Petecio will need to bring her best to overcome this formidable opponent and continue the quest for the Philippines’ first Olympic gold in boxing.