Asian Games: Taiwanese pug eliminates Tokyo tormentor Petecio from medal contention

An old nemesis haunted Nesthy Petecio in the present.

Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Ting avenged her defeat against Petecio in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics round of 16 by booting the Filipina pug out of medal contention in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Petecio, a silver medalist in the pandemic-delayed Summer Olympics last 2021, absorbed a 4-1 split decision defeat in the women's 57kg boxing at Hangzhou Gymnasium on Friday, September 29.

Lin dominated the bout in the first round to get the judges on her side, and despite the efforts of Petecio to level the playing field in the next round, the Taiwanese remained on top of things.

The first Filipina boxer to win an Olympic medal searched for a knockout but the East Asian proved to be steadier down the last round.

With her bowing out for the rest of the competition, Petecio must hurdle the world qualification tournaments (WQTs) slated next year to reach the Paris Olympic Games.

The Asiad serves as an Olympic qualifying stage, with the finalists booking a next year's trip to the French capital.

In a message he sent to Petecio, Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (ABAP) chairman Ricky Vargas believed the 31-year-old Davao del Sur native could return to the Olympic stage.

"You can rebound when you put your mind to it, kung gusto mo bumalik sa Olympics. I am proud of what you have accomplished. This is just a bump and [I'm] confident on what you still can," a part of Vargas' message to Petecio read.

"Humihingi po ako ng pasensya sa pagkatalo ko po ngayon…babawi po ako sir, babalik po akong mas malakas pa," a grateful Petecio responded.

Aside from Petecio, adding to Philippine boxing woes was John Marvin.

Marvin crashed out of the men's 92kg quarterfinals after South Korea's Jeong Jaemin scored a vicious knockout with 45 ticks to go in the opening round, forcing the referee to halt the bout.

Medal hope now only lies on the shoulders of Tokyo 2020 medalists Eumir Marcial (men's 80kg) and Carlo Paalam (men's 57kg).