Podium in sight for birthday girl Aira

PARIS — Serenaded with a birthday song and egged on by loud chants of her name, Aira Villegas wouldn’t disappoint the crowd and most especially herself.

It’s a unique birthday not everyone can experience – in the Olympics and atop the ring – and Villegas made it more special, turning 29 with a scorching triumph that sent her on cusp of winning an Olympic medal.

Villegas methodically fought her way to a unanimous decision over 50kg second seed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria Thursday at the Paris North Arena to advance to the quarterfinals versus home bet Wassilia Lkhadiri.

“Mas masaya kung makakuha ng medal,” said the Tacloban fighter, with a bouquet of flowers in her hands and a birthday cake with a member of Team Philippines.

“Fair judging lang, sa kanya na ‘yan,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

An obstacle in the Round of 8 is a Frenchwoman who celebrated her own win amidst vehement protest from the Irish camp crying of hometown decision denying their bet a clear win.

“Magaang na kalaban ‘yan (the Frenchwoman) for Aira,” insisted Tolentino, hoping for fair judging, though.

“Kaya ni Aira ‘yan,” said coach Reynaldo Galido.

But Villegas is the first to say it won’t be a walk in the park versus Lkhadiri, against whom she went down to a 3-2 split in a fight in Bulgaria last year.

“Pero nandyan naman ang mga coaches ko. Mapapagplanuhan namin ‘yan,” said Villegas, noting a good fight plan they worked on to score a stinging reversal versus Boualam to join Carlo Paalam in the quarterfinals.

The Filipina won on the scorecards, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27.

Villegas got the nod of all five judges in the first round, lost the second, 2-3, then fought her way to 5-0 in the last, drawing cheers from the Philippine gallery, including ABAP president Rep. Robbie Puno, chairman Ricky Vargas and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann.