It was a heartbreaking day for Nesthy Petecio and the Philippines when the power-punching bantamweight who was the lone survivor among the four members of the PLDT-ABAP boxing team competing in the ASBC Asian Women?s Boxing Championships, lost by a split decision in the finals to old foe Pieamwilai Laopeam, the former Asian Indoor Games winner, in the finals on Thursday at the ultra-modern Wulanchabu Sports Gymnasium in Wulanchabu, China.
ABAP executive director and delegation head Ed Picson told the New Standard/boxing mirror.com that Petecio who had prevailed in a hard fought semi final bout over India?s Maisnam Meena KumarDevi was "doing the pressuring and landing some big bombs" but that the Thai girl was "clever enough, waiting in ambush and holding her own in exchanges."
Picson said it was a close fight but that he felt Petecio "did enough to win."
The Chinese judge agreed with Picson and had Petecio the winner 39-37 but the judges from Ukraine and Kyrgyztan both scored it by the same 39-37 margin for the Thai fighter.
Picson told us later "I just saw Nesthy . She has an ugly lump on her right eye. She said it was a wayward elbow early in the third round that caused it. She couldn't see out of the eye for a while. All three judges gave that round to the Thai."
Petecio, the AIBA Women?s World Boxing Championships silver medalist who also won a silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore last June was clearly disappointed over her loss.
AIBA quoted Laopeam prior to the finals when she said ?I had several tight losses over the past two years, so I have focused to improve some of my skills, and I am happy to realize that our work was successful. I am now in the final, and I will try to win that contest? after she eliminated Mongolia?s Myagmar Gundegmaa in the semi finals.
In the quarter finals AIBA reported that Petecio ?expertly displayed her technique and quick combinations against Japanese opponent Sana Kawano.
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