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 Hungary’s Veronika Nakota via tiebreak in the last 16.

The Philippines went two out of four in Bangkok, with Carlo Paalam also booking a return trip to the Olympics by earning one of three Paris slots up for grabs in the men’s 57kg division.

Rogen Ladon (men’s 51kg) and Criztian Pitt Laurente (men’s 63.5kg) suffered early exits as they both dropped their opening bouts.

With Bacyadan and Paalam joining  Eumir Marcial, Nesthy Petecio, and Aira Villegas in the French capital, the Philippines will have its biggest boxing delegation since it also sent five boxers to the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Medal expectations are high for the Philippine boxing team, especially after Petecio and Paalam each bagged a silver and Marcial snagged a bronze in the previous Tokyo Olympics.

Petecio, Paalam, and Marcial return to the Olympics looking to complete their unfinished business, while Bacyadan and Villegas aim to win medals in their Games debuts. – Rappler.com