The 29-year-old pride of Tacloban cements her spot in Philippine boxing history with her sensational Olympic debut.
The past few hours have been a roller coaster ride of emotions for Filipinos as we watched our remaining medal hopefuls battle it out for Olympic glory in Paris.
First it was world #2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena who pushed us all to the edge of our seats before overcoming a shaky start to clear the 5.75 mark and booking a return ticket to the pole vault finals.
Later last night, it was Carlos Yulo’s turn, with his near-flawless floor exercise routine giving our country its second gold medal in its 100-year participation at the Olympics. Caloy was also the first Southeast Asian to win a medal—and a gold at that—in Paris 2024.
And there’s Aira Villegas, who in her Olympics debut, managed to secure a bronze in a nail-biter of a fight against a home favorite.
Aira entered the North Paris Arena to a sea of boos—which was expected as she was going up against hometown bet Wassila Lkhadiri in the 50kg division of women’s boxing. Despite the homecourt advantage of her opponent, the 29-year-old boxer looked upbeat, seemingly energized by a unanimous birthday win last August 2 over Algeria’s Roumaysa Boualam.
It was a close fight, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports, and it seemed for quite some time in the match that the fighters were stuck in a deadlock. Lkhadiri was a formidable foe, after all, having bagged bronze in the previous IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships.
After two intense rounds, one judge had Aira leading, the other had the Corsican in the lead, and the remaining judges had everything tied.
But Tacloban’s pride seemed to have been fueled by the boos and jeers as she unleashed a barrage of punches toward the homestretch, landing clean hits while avoiding trouble until the final bell rang. Aira won on three judges’ score cards, all 29-28s, leaving a disappointed Lkhadiri who won on two judges’ cards, 30-27 and 29-28, and shushing an equally stunned arena.
Aira’s win assures the Philippines of a repeat of our multi-medal haul in Tokyo 2020, the first time our country does so in two consecutive Summer Olympics. She came into the games with lesser fanfare than fellow boxers and returning Olympic medalists Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial, but her sensational run leading to a sure podium finish has already elevated her among Philippine boxing’s greats and has won her a legion of fans.
She secured her place in the Paris Games together with Nesthy after emerging triumphant in their respective divisions in the World Qualification Tournament in Italy last March.
Aira will face Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the semifinals on Aug. 7 (Manila time), with the winner advancing to the final of the 50kg category assured of a silver medal.
