PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A gold rush in boxing looms for the Philippines as five more boxers advanced to the finals of the Southeast Asian Games at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center here on Wednesday, May 10.

Olympian Nesthy Petecio together with brother Norlan Petecio, Rogen Ladon, Ian Clark Bautista, and John Marvin joined Irish Magno and Riza Pasuit in gold-medal contention as they all won their respective semifinal bouts.

Nesthy, a silver medalist in the Tokyo Games, outshone Cambodia’s Vy Sreysros via unanimous decision in the women’s featherweight class to remain on track of her redemption bid after settling for bronze last year in Vietnam.

Another Petecio inched closer to a gold as Norlan hacked out a split decision win over Singapore’s Jun Jie Velvan Tan, 4-1, in the men’s 67kg.

Ladon also earned a split decision win to stay on pace for a third straight men’s flyweight title, beating Malaysia’s Muhammad Abdul Ariffin by a 4-1 score.

Bautista zeroed in on back-to-back men’s bantamweight crowns after blanking Myanmar’s Naing Latt, 5-0, while Marvin clinched a unanimous decision victory over Cambodia’s Nasredinov Anvar.

A day prior, Magno (women’s bantamweight) and Pasuit (women’s light welterweight) qualified for the finals after eliminating their Indonesian and Singaporean foes, respectively.

The boxing team can make it 10 gold chances for the country as Carlo Paalam (men’s bantamweight), Paul Julyfer Bascon (men’s lightweight), and Markus Tongco (men’s heavyweight) compete in the semifinals on Thursday.

Paalam, another Olympic silver medalist, will face Timor Leste’s Edegar da Silva; Bascon will go up against Cambodia’s Touch Davit; while Tongco will tangle with Vietnam’s Manh Cuong Nguyen.

The boxing squad looks to exceed its haul in the Vietnam SEA Games, where it won three golds, one silver, and five bronzes. – Rappler.com