Filipino boxers’ Olympic gold remains elusive
THE Olympic gold medal in boxing remains elusive for Filipino boxers with Nesthy Petecio, Eumir Marcial, Carlo Paalam and Aira Villegas falling short of claiming the ultimate glory in the past two editions of the Summer Games.
LUIS ROBAYO and MOHD RASFAN/agence france-presse
Not one but three Filipino fighters made it to the podium during the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021, almost 26 years after Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco took home a silver from the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
The boxing gold medal remained elusive as men’s flyweight Carlo Paalam and women’s feather Nesthy Petecio only settled for silver medals while men’s middleweight Eumir Marcial got the bronze.
Still, the three-medal haul proved eye-popping since the Philippines has never won more than one boxing medal in a single Olympiad.
Actually, there were four bets in boxing in Tokyo but Aira Villegas did not make medal round and could only do so in the next Olympics in Paris.
Paalam was beaten by Galal Yafai of the United Kingdom for the gold while Petecio lost to Serna Irie of Japan in the final bout.
Marcial’s advance was put to a halt when he was beaten by Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine.
Still, the performance of two silver and a bronze medal was the best-ever showing by a Filipino boxing squad in the quadrennial games and it was made even sweeter because the country finally won its Olympic gold medal courtesy of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.
In the French capital in 2024, all three medalists and Villegas were back but only Petecio and Villegas got back home with medals hanging around their necks.
Marcial, a top gold medal bet, was shown the door in his first fight while Paalam bade goodbye in the quarterfinal round.
When the mushroom cloud had dissipated, only Petecio and Villegas made it to the podium.
Petecio was upset by a Pole puncher while Villegas got stalled by a Turkish bet.
The two boxing medals sparkled like no other because these were won in the same Olympics where Carlos Yulo took two gymnastics golds.
Overall, Philippine Olympic medals in boxing has a gold-silver-bronze tally of 0-4-6, the most number produced by any sport as the total now stands at 18.
But with boxing a great source of pride for a country that produced the only eight-division champion, it is high time that boxing delivers next time.
In Los Angeles in 2028, Philippine boxing will get another chance to end the gold medal hunt.
But will Marcial, Paalam, Petecio and Villegas finally join the likes of Diaz and Yulo?
That’s the big question.
