Familiarity and experienced worked wonders for Nesthy Petecio in her first win at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Nesthy Petecio lurched forward, unloading multiple jabs she used to set up one solid overhand right to the face of India’s Jaismine Lamboria in the opening round, a punch that made a world of difference in their women's 57kg round of 32 bout in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Wednesday, July 31 (Philippine time).
That was all part of the plan.
“Sabi namin unahan namin agad. ‘Kailangan masaktan siya (Jaismine) para matakot sya sayo,” said coach Reynaldo Galido on Petecio's game plan to open her Paris 2024 campaign.
Though at a disadvantage in height and reach, Petecio continued to use her wits that came with experience to outpoint her Indian foe for a unanimous decision win.
[RELATED STORY: Nesthy Petecio opens Paris 2024 bid with unanimous decision over India's Jaismine]
Petecio did not seem to have trouble with distance against the 5-foot-9 Lamboria, who just couldn’t land clear punches against the evasive Filipina.
Towards the end of the second period, Petecio slid a straight to the face amid a flurry of punches from Lamboria.
It looked like she knew exactly what India’s bet would do.
Well, it helped that the 32-year-old Filipino pugilist had already sparred with her during her training camp in Metz, France.
“Sa totoo lang, sabi ko nga kanina, sobrang laking tulong. Buti na lang naka sparring ko siya. Yun talaga sinabi ko after weigh in,” said the Tokyo 2020 silver medalist.
Despite the strong opening win, the job’s not done for the gold-medal seeking athlete from Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur.
“Sobrang magandang simula po sya sakin. Sana magtuloy tuloy,” she said.
(With reports from Carlo Pamintuan/One Sports)