Aira Villegas isn’t only fulfilling her own dream by setting foot at the Paris Olympics as she is also realizing a longtime aspiration of her older brother, Rominick.
Villegas, though, hopes to make one more dream come to fruition: cop an Olympic medal.
The 28-year-old Tacloban native is among the five Filipino boxers set to see action in the upcoming Summer Games in France, where the Philippines is looking to put on a show to mark its 100th year since its Olympic debut.
Carving her own path
Villegas started her boxing career at the age of nine due to the influence of her Kuya Rominick, who was a promising young boxer after making a name in their province in Leyte. Rominick was a scholar for the Leyte Sports Academy and would train the young Villegas just for fun at first.
Rominick also dreamt of being a national team member, but it didn’t materialize for the older Villegas.
Instead, Aira flew to Manila to pursue her professional boxing career and continue what his brother had started.
Fast forward to the present, Villegas is now one of the Philippine hopefuls at the Paris Games alongside 21 other athletes — and she’s been ready for this moment for a long time now.
Back in 2020, Villegas was tipped to be one of the Filipino boxers set to punch a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics, but she was in the same weight division as her senior Irish Magno, who eventually made her way to the Games.
While her Olympics dream was put on hold at the time, Villegas made sure to improve on herself so when the time came, she’s all geared up to wage war.
True enough, she clinched a ticket to the Paris Games following a dominant 5-0 decision win against Zlatislava Chukanova of Bulgaria in their quarterfinals during the 1st Olympic Qualifying Tournament last March.
Job not yet done
Villegas’ mission is not far from done.
She does not want to just set foot at the Olympic ring, but she is also eyeing to pluck a medal — a gold one — for the flag.
In her debut, Villegas, who once took home a bronze medal in the Southeast Asian Games in the 2019 edition here, will figure in a field of boxers equally eager to put on a brave stand.
Leading the pack is reigning Asian Games gold medalist Wu Yu of China alongside the three other Asiad semifinalists in Chuthamat Raksat of Oyuntsetsegiin Yesugen of Mongolia, and Nikhat Zareen of India.
Also seeing action is European Games titlist Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey, who swept all her games in the tournament with identical 5-0 decision wins in the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, and finals.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
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