Almost nine months of not seeing her family due to her busy schedule and the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Baguio-based worldboxing champion Nesthy Petecio is going home to Davao.
“Makakauwi na rin,” said Petecio, a national boxing team member and reigning (amateur) International Boxing Association and Southeast Asian Games champion.
Petecio said she is returning to Davao to be with her family, which will be her inspiration in getting the last flight to the postponed Tokyo Olympics after she was denied a seat last March in Amman, Jordan.
Petecio is waiting for her flight back home after nearly three months of inactivity due to the enhanced community quarantine that prevented her from training.
“As much as I wanted to train during the lockdown, our neighbors asked us not to for fear that I will contract the disease,” she said.
Petecio said it will be her father Teodoro, a former boxer, who will handle her training along with her brother, Norlan, who is also part of the Philippine boxing team.
Petecio lost to archrival Irie Sena of Japan in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Asia and Oceana Boxing Qualification Tournament in the Jordan capital.
She was supposed to get one final chance in the global qualifiers in Paris, France last May but it was postponed until further notice due to the pandemic.
Paalam won a gold medal in the last SEAG.
Female boxer Irish Magno has already qualified to the Tokyo Games, the first female pug to do so.
Magno won a silver medal in the 2019 SEAG hosted by the Philippines.
Last week, the Philippine Sports Commission told all athletes eyeing slots for the Olympics to renew their training, including weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, the 2016 Brazil Olympics silver medalist. – PNA
April 23, 2024
