Petecio comes up short vs Polish, takes home Olympic boxing bronze

MANILA, Philippines — Filipina boxer Nesthy Petecio fell short of a shot at history after dropping a tough split decision against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in their women’s 57kg boxing semifinal bout early Thursday morning (Manila time).

It was a massive upset for Petecio, a silver medalist in the Tokyo Olympics, who will instead be bringing home a bronze for the Philippines.

Four judges scored it 29-28 in favor of Szeremeta, while one had it 29-28 for Petecio.

The 32-year-old Filipina took the first round with crisp punches and patient attacks.

Szeremeta, though, started to connect in the final two rounds as she kept the pressure on.

The 20-year-old then landed big shots in the final minute of the match, which all but secured the victory.

“Akala ko akin to this time, sobrang grabe yung tiwala ko sa sarili ko na makukuha ko siya. But yun nga, medyo hindi tayo [pinalad] ngayong gabi,” she said after the match.
“Sobrang thankful pa rin ako kay Lord kasi maganda iyong pinakita ko.”

Szeremeta will be facing Chinese Taipei’s Yu-ting Lin in the final. Lin defeated Turkiye’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman in the semifinal via unanimous decision, her third straight victory in the tourney.

The gold medal match will be on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (Manila time).

Petecio’s bronze medal brings the Philippine delegation’s medal tally to four.

The Filipinos are now down to four athletes in Paris -- weightlifters Vanessa Sarno and Elreen Ando, and golfers Dottie Ardina and Bianca Pagdanganan.