With their gold medals in the boxing competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games safe in their collection, Eumir Marcial and Nesthy Petecio now shift their focus on 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers while Charly Suarez is unsure of what lies ahead but said he is ready to take on a bigger challenge.
The trio’s finals matches were the last three lined up on a busy Monday night for Team Philippines’ boxing team as they watched most of their teammates win and some of them lose. They made sure the pro-Filipino crowd at the PICC Tent in Manila, who waited for their turn to fight, got their money’s worth as they witnessed smashing performances to cap the hosts’ seven-gold haul in the biennial meet.
Suarez, a professional fighter who is campaigning in the AIBA World Series of Boxing, made a triumphant return to the national team with a bruising 5-0 unanimous victory over Pidnuch Khunatip of Thailand in the men’s lightweight (60kg) division. The 31-year-old said he missed playing for flag and country in front of his countrymen.
“Sa professional kasi iba eh. Yung sarili mo na pag game mo. Dito kasi sa bansa mo eh magbigay ka ng gintong medalya sa bansa. Wala ding mga Filipino na professional na naglaro dito sa larangan ng competition,” said Suarez, who took the bronze in the light welterweight division in the 2017 edition of the Games in Kuala Lumpur and now awaits if an Olympic call comes his way.
“Sa akin wala pa (call for Tokyo Olympics) as of now. Wala pa akong idea pero prepared naman ako kung ano ang opportunity na ibibigay sa akin,” he added.
For the 27-year-old Petecio, admitted she felt the weight of the nation on her shoulders despite making her 5-0 win over Oo New Ni of Myanmar in the women’s featherweight (57kg) final look easy.
After all, fight fans expect Petecio to easily claim the gold after she took the featherweight division gold at the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Championships early this year.
“Mahirap po kasi. Kumbaga yung pressure na sabihan ka na final ka. Dapat manalo kahit sang laban na lang. Grabe po yung pressure sa akin,” Petecio said.
“Nung una kabado ako. Nag pray talaga ako. Pero nakayanan ko naman. Alam ko mabibigatan talaga yung laban ko,” she added.
After his smashing knockout triumph over Nguyen Amang Cuong of Vietnam, the 24-year-old Marcial can now set his sights on the bigger picture: the Olympics. Marcial beat his foe in 1:11 of the first round in the men’s middleweight (75kg) final to cap the host’ explosive campaign in the biennial event.
“Next year sa February pinaghahandaan namin ang Olympic qualifying so mas importante yun. Kailangan mag qualify kami dun,” said Marcial, who insisted that he was not looking to knock out his opponent but found the opportunity to do so.
“Sa December 18 sa China ako lalaro. So tuloy tuloy ang ensayo. Kasi hindi lang naman kasi SEA Games ang pinaghahandaan namin,” he said.
Suarez, Petecio and Marcial may have given fans a deserving Christmas gift with their golden performances in the SEA Games.
But they might not have much time to celebrate, rest or join their loved ones for the holidays as they train harder in the hope of making the country’s wish a reality – a first ever Olympic gold in Tokyo next year.