Ousted teammates drive Villegas in Olympic boxing quarterfinal win

MANILA, Philippines -- Aira Villegas is dedicating her sure Olympic medal to fellow Filipino boxers who had already bowed out of competition.

Villegas is assured of at least a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics after narrowly beating France’s Wassila Lkhadiri in their 50 kg quarterfinal bout on Sunday morning (Manila time).

The Filipina fought back a hostile crowd en route to a split decision win.

Villegas, after the match, said she used her fallen teammates as motivation ahead of the huge quarterfinal round win.

“Inaalay ko rin po ito sa mga kasamahan ko, lalo na kay Eumir [Marcial] and kay Carlo [Paalam] kanina, so parang nalungkot ako kasi,” the 29-year-old pug said in an interview posted by One Sports.

“Sabi ko, gagawin ko na lang siyang motivation para ibawi yung kasamahan ko.”

Marcial and Paalam, who won medals in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, had early exits in France this time around.

Marcial was stunned by Uzbekistan’s Turabek Khabibullaev in the round of 16 action.

And a few hours before Villegas competed, Paalam bid adieu to medal chances after suffering a heartbreaking loss against Australia’s Charlie Senior in the men’s 57 kg quarterfinals.

Boxer Hergie Bacyadan also bowed out of the women’s 75 kg round of 16.

With her Filipinos in mind, the pride of Tacloban went for broke against Lkhadiri.

In the same interview, Villegas said she had extra inspiration against the French bet.

“Grabe po, sobrang nagpapasalamat ako kay God. Lalo na yung sa last round kasi di ba nagtabla kami nun, sabi ni coach, hahayaan mo ba na kunin niya yun? Sabi ko, hindi, akin to kailangan kong bumawi kasi last year, natalo niya ako,” she stressed.

“Dapat this year, comeback ko 'to kasi ito yung 2023, February, siya yung nakatalo sa akin, 3-2. So sabi ko kailangan ko tong kunin, last round,” she added.

“Grabe, sabi ko, wala akong pakialam sa maraming nagchi-cheer, mas lalong nagbu-boost ako, sabi ko. Kailangan matahimik itong crowd.”

Villegas will try to barge into the final round as she faces Turkiye’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu on August 7.