PARIS (Via PLDT Home) – Aira Villegas and Nesthy Petecio are poised to make their mark at the hallowed grounds of Roland Garros as they chase their Olympic dreams and aim to sustain Team Philippines’ drive for greater success at the Paris Games. The boxing action moves from the North Paris Arena to the iconic Paris sports complex for the medal rounds starting Tuesday.
Villegas will be the first to step onto this prestigious stage, preparing for her semifinal bout in the same locker rooms once used by tennis legends Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer. The Tacloban native will face Turkish boxer Buse Naz Çakıroğlu in the 50kg semifinal at around 10 p.m. local time on Tuesday (early Wednesday morning in Manila). The winner will advance to the gold-medal match, facing either Wu Yu of China or Kazakh Nazym Kyzaibay.
Following Villegas, Petecio will enter the fray on Wednesday night, taking on Poland’s Julia Szeremeta in the 57kg semifinals. On the other side of the semis are top seed Lin Yu Ting from Chinese Taipei and Turkey’s Esra Yildiz Kahraman.
Olympic newcomer Villegas is looking to extend her Cinderella story all the way to the gold-medal fight, while Petecio aims for her second Olympic final with hopes of finally securing the top spot. The prospect of a Philippine victory celebration at Roland Garros looks promising, especially with the recent modernization of the facilities, including the addition of a roof to Court Philippe-Chatrier, making it suitable for hosting Olympic boxing events.
Earlier, Roland Garros was a familiar territory for Olympic tennis, where Djokovic clinched the men’s singles crown, completing a super grand slam by adding the Olympic title to his victories in Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Open, and the US Open.
