Pinay boxers bow out in Asian Cup

Familiarity with the tropical weather of this resort city, capital of the southern island province of Hainan, did not prove to be much of an advantage for the Philippines' Nesthy Petecio and Alice Kate Aparri who both bowed to their respective opponents in the 1st Asian Cup Women's Boxing Tournament in Haikou, China. With the sun ablaze outside the air-conditioned Haikou Gymnasium, the 19-year-old Petecio started sluggishly to immediately fall behind, 0-2 after the first round. Her opponent, 21-year- old Shekerbekova Zhaina of Kazakhstan, wisely stayed away from the power bombs the Davao native tried to unload as she used guile and back-pedalling tactics. She also exploded with some well-timed head shots to take the second round, 4-2. The third round also went the Kazakh's way, 7-4. Petecio cranked up her offense and landed some clear blows in the final round but found it hard to overhaul the lead as she succumbed to the Asian Champion and ended her campaign in this unique 2-day tournament. The format features the top four-ranked Asian women boxers in every weight category. Final score was 10-7 for the Kazakh. In the evening session, Alice Kate Aparri, a bronze medalist in the World Women's Boxing Championships in Barbados September of last year, likewise lost to her old nemesis, Mary Kom of India, a winner of four world championships. Aparri looked confident at the outset, engaging the shifty Indian policewoman in fierce exchanges, but time and again got tagged by crisp counters from the multi-titled Kom. Kom took Round 1, 3-1, then maintained her edge after the second round, 5-3. Somehow, despite Aparri getting some hard hooks and uppercuts in, the Indian mother of twins stretched her lead to four points at 9-5 in Round 3. The Baguio lass then pulled out all the stops and crowded her foe all round long in the final canto, but all she succeeded in doing was reduce the gap at the final bell, 11-8. The last time the two met in Barbados last September, Aparri succumbed on a lopsided score of 1-8. Accompanying the team of two boxers are coach Mitchel Martinez and ABAP executive director Ed Picson, who expressed guarded optimism on the performance of the two top Filipino women boxers. "This is their first exposure in the year, and the luck of the draw had them against the top seeds right away. The fact that our girls gave them a tough time gives us lessons on what to work on in the coming months." International Technical Official (ITO) Karina Picson, who recently passed the AIBA exams in Turkey last month, also traveled here on invitation of the organizers to help supervise the event. She is in charge of coordinating the assignments of the referees and judges for the entire tournament. - RCJ, GMA News