Nesthy Petecio sacks Chinese foe in QF for guaranteed Olympic medal

Nesthy Petecio gave the Philippines another guaranteed medal after sending China's Zichun Xu packing, drawing a unanimous victory during the quarterfinals of the women's 57kg at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday at the North Paris Arena. 

Petecio has also moved a win away from returning to the gold medal round, where she has a chance to match or surpass her silver medal finish during her Tokyo Olympics debut three years ago. 

Petecio's victory hiked the country's medal tally to three so far after gymnast Carlos Yulo captured a gold medal in the men's floor exercise and boxer Aira Villegas copped at least a bronze medal in the women's 50kg. 

Petecio, who parades a number of international titles including two SEA Games gold medal and one World Championship crown, showed off her precision in the first two rounds, which saw her getting the nod of all five judges as the much-taller Xu could not find the answers to the Filipina's solid jabs.

An uppercut to complete a combination in the final minute of the third round highlighted yet another dominant match for Petecio as she cruised to a one-sided triumph. 

Petecio now awaits her semifinals opponent, who could either be Puerto Rico's Ashleyann Lozada Motta or Poland's Julia Szeremeta. 

—JKC, GMA Integrated News