First-time Olympian Aira Villegas will take home a bronze medal from Paris 2024.
Aira Villegas’ will take the bronze medal for her first-ever Olympic Games.
This after her road for Paris 2024 ended in the semifinals of the women’s 50kg boxing category on Wednesday (Philippine time), losing to no. 3 seed Buse Naz Cakiroglu.
Villegas was shutout by her Turkish foe, taking the 5-0 loss.
In a fight of attrition, Villegas engaged Cakiroglu in a furious bout but the Philippine bet appeared to get the worse of the exchanges. Things quickly turned for the worse for Aira, as she received a standing eight-count in the first round.
Looking to even the score, Villegas was all the more aggressive in the second and appeared to score a knockdown following an exchange. However, referee Wade Peterson ruled otherwise.
The story followed the same script through the third, with Cakiroglu getting the better of the exchanges.
Despite the loss, Villegas has her medal for the Philippines, which she won after surviving local bet Wassila Lkhadiri in the quarterfinals. Aira thus improves the country's medal haul for Paris 2024 with two gold medals and one bronze, following Carlos Yulo's double victory in Artistic Gymnastics.