Nesthy Petecio on Wednesday punched to an assured podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics, effectively securing the Philippines its first multi-medal Olympic victory in nearly a century -- after Hidilyn Diaz's historic gold -- before the battle even ended.
The 29-year-old Petecio brought the pandemic-stricken country even more pride and was among the top trending topics on social media after beating Colombian opponent Arias Castaneda.
The last time the country ended its Olympics campaign with a multi-medal finish was in 1932, when it snagged three bronze medals in the Los Angeles Games.
Whatever medal Petecio is set to receive will land her in the map of Philippine sports, as apart from the multi-medal finish, it will be boxing's first Olympic medal since Onyok Velasco's silver in 1996.
The Davao native will gun for a place in the finals on July 31 against Italian Irma Testa, a tall and intimidating fighter who more or less fights in the same style as world No. 1 Lin Yu-ting, who Petecio sent crashing in the round of 16 clash, reporting by Spin.ph said.
As of writing, "ABANTE BABAE" is already trend #1 on Twitter, as Diaz and Petecio's victory sheds light on the might of Filipino sportswomen, particularly in weightlighting and boxing which are both predominantly male sports.
Early this week, street skateborder Margielyn Didal ended her Olympics debut at 7th place, also bringing pride to a country that has no public skate parks.