Petecio faces Colombian for spot in semis; Watanabe falls

FILIPINO boxer Nesthy Petecio takes on Colombian Yeni Marcela Arias Castañeda on Wednesday for a spot in the semifinals in the women’s featherweight division that would assure themselves of a medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Ms. Petecio of Davao del Sur earned a ticket to the quarterfinals after upsetting top seed Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei by split decision, 3-2, in their Round of 16 encounter on Monday at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo.

The judges scored it, 28-29, 29-28, 28-29, 29-28, 29-28, for the Filipino.

Ms. Petecio hopes to have her winning streak continue against Ms. Castañeda, who was a bronze medal winner at the 2019 Pan American Games.

In case she advances to the semifinals, Ms. Petecio is already sure of a medal since losing semifinalists are given bronze medals.

Meanwhile, Filipino-Japanese judoka Kiyomi Watanabe saw her Olympic campaign come to an abrupt end in the opening round of her women’s -63kg match against Cristina Cabana Perez of Spain on Tuesday at the Nippon Budokan.

Ms. Watanabe, the country’s female flag-bearer in the Olympic opening ceremony, was knocked out by Ms. Perez just 38 seconds into the match by way of ippon.

The Philippine bet tried to take down her opponent, but instead saw Ms. Perez transitioned for a corner throw and pounced on Ms. Watanabe after.

Ms. Perez won by a score of 10-0.

“This was a very painful loss for Kiyomi and for us. Very painful indeed. We’re thankful for all the support and we’ll bounce back,” said Dave Carter, Philippine Judo Federation president, shared after Ms. Watanabe’s match.

Ms. Watanabe made her Olympic debut in Tokyo and qualified through the continental rankings.

Later on Tuesday, also set to compete were swimmers Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule as well as weightlifter Elreen Ann Ando.

Mr. Gebbie was to see action in the 100m freestyle while Ms. Rule was to compete in the 200m butterfly at the Olympic Aquatic Centre.

Ms. Ando, meanwhile, competes in the women’s -64kg division and was to come on the heels of the golden conquest of veteran teammate Hidilyn Diaz on Monday. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo