MANILA, Philippines – With a coveted Olympic berth on the line, Hergie Bacyadan laid it all in the ring. Bacyadan punched her ticket to the Paris Games after clobbering Venezuela’s Maryelis Yriza in the women’s 75kg quarterfinals in the second World Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday, June 2. Securing one of the four Olympic quotas, Bacyadan fashioned a masterful unanimous decision win by scores of 30-26, 30-26, 30-26, 29-27, 29-27 to become the fifth Filipino boxer to qualify for Paris.
Bacyadan narrowly clinched the opening round by earning the nod of three of the five judges before she turned it up a notch, catching Yriza with a superb right uppercut late in the second round that forced a standing eight count. Yriza managed to continue, but the Venezuelan failed to keep up as Bacyadan continued to pummel her with powerful crosses and well-timed uppercuts. As Bacyadan hugged her coaches in the corner after the fight, her eyes swelled with tears knowing she did more than enough to catch the last bus to Paris after an early exit in the first World Qualification Tournament in March.
Proud of her Kalinga roots, Bacyadan celebrated her win by doing the traditional taddok dance, which is performed in festive occasions. Bacyadan clinched her Olympic seat by winning all of her three bouts in Bangkok. Also a world champion in Vietnamese martial art vovinam, Bacyadan opened her campaign with a unanimous decision win over Spain’s Dunia Martinez then edged.
