World champion Petecio eases through at Amman Olympic qualifiers

By JT - Mar 05,2020 - Last updated at Mar 05,2020

AMMAN — World Champion Nesthy Petecio eased through to the quarter-finals of the featherweight (57kg) division at the Asian/Oceanian Road to Tokyo 2020 Boxing qualifying event in Amman on Wednesday, and had an ominous warning for her competitors, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The 25-year-old said she was disappointed with her performance as she convincingly beat Sri Lanka’s Krismi Lankapurayalage, and warned that she is going to get a lot better as the tournament progresses. “I am not satisfied because I felt heavy out there,” she said. “Maybe it is because it is my first fight but I felt I wasn’t at my best so will improve for my next fight.

I am a World Champion and God willing I can win an Olympic medal, but I must concentrate on qualifying here and improving.” Petecio will next fight Sena Irie, of Japan, in the last eight after she beat New Zealand’s Amy Andrew.

In the first shock of the tournament, Thailand’s fourth seed Nilawan Techasuep was beaten by former youth world champion Chowdry Sakshi, of India, on a split points decision. She will next fight Aeji Im, of Korea, who was also a 57kg winner in the morning session.

The women’s 60kg category saw a couple of gruelling bouts which went the way of Korea’s Yeonji Oh and Uzbekistan’s Raykhona Kodirova. In the men’s flyweight 52kg division, there were wins for the impressive Enkhmandakh Kharkhuu, of Mongolia, with a second round stoppage, and Azat Usenaliev, of Kyrgyzstan, who will now face the weight’s number one and four seeds respectively in the last 16.

In the morning session’s 69kg welterweight category, New Zealand’s Dominic Roe booked a last 16 date with top seed Bobo-Usmon Baturov by beating Ka Chan, of Hong Kong.

There were also wins for Samoa’s Marion Ah Tong, Chinese Taipei’s Pan Hung-Ming and Australia’s Jason Mallia, who will fight Jordan’s Ziad Ishaish on Friday.

The event has attracted 221 of the best fighters from 35 countries with 63 Olympic spots up for grabs.

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