Aira Villegas wins in Olympic boxing on birthday: 'Best gift to myself'

PARIS - Boxer Aira Villegas celebrated her 29th birthday in style by beating Roumaysa Boualam on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the flyweight category at the Paris Olympics.

A section of fans at the North Paris Arena could be heard loudly singing "Happy Birthday" as the 29-year-old scored a unanimous 5-0 win over her Algerian opponent.

"I'm very proud of myself. And of course, it's very overwhelming," Villegas told reporters.

"This is the best gift ever to myself. I will remember this for the rest of my life. This is a gift to my younger self and to my future self. I heard (fans singing happy birthday). I'm very grateful.

"At the moment, a medal is just only a dream. But I'm here. And I'm very proud that I can be here."

Asked if her strict diet and training regimen would be set aside after the bout, she replied: "Yeah, I can eat cake, but maybe not too much!"

Villegas faces Frenchwoman Wassila Lkhadiri in the quarterfinals on early Sunday (Philippine time).

—Reuters