Stanimira Petrova loses 1-4 judges' vote in her Olympic quarter-final bout games in Paris 2024 by the Chinese Yuan Cheng, reported sportal.bg.
Stanimira won the first round and lost in the next two, thus ending his participation in the French capital just before the distribution of medals.
Petrova beat this same Yuan Chen in the final of “Strange” this year with a 4:1 judicial vote.
In her first match at the Paris 2024 Games, Stanimira recorded a stunning victory over world champion Huang Xiao Wen by unanimous decision. As the first seed, she rested in the first round.
In typical verse, Stanimira roamed the middle of the ring and tried to find her opponent, who was in reverse guard and more defensive in the opening minutes, with a left and right. The Chinese woman did not hesitate to use dirty techniques from the very start of the fight. Petrova didn't take any risks and kept controlling the distance with a left straight, scoring the right straight at convenient opportunities. Yuan also landed some right straights, but her combinations weren't landing. However, she finished the round with a nice forehand on target.
The judges awarded the first part to the Bulgarian with 3-2 votes.
Stanimir started the second round with left straights, trying to overcome the Asian's dodges with right straights. Whenever Petrova found herself in a corner for seconds, she was instructed by the corner to get out of there. Certainly, the Bulgarian was more active in the attempts for hits, and the Chinese again hit her dirty, but the judge Wade Peterson from Canada did not make a remark. Stanimira finished strong with a straight right and a combination to the body, raising his hand in victory after the gong.
However, the judges awarded the second round to Yuan by a 1-4 vote.
The Chinese made a good combination at the beginning of the decisive part, and in the first minute she had definitely the better hits. Yuan again provoked duels and loss of balance. Stanimira landed a left straight on goal with a minute and a half to go, but needed more actions to get to the win. A right hook ended an attack by Yuan, who was however more active in the number of shots attempted. The last 20 seconds or so passed without significant action, and finally both raised their hands in victory.
The judges awarded the victory to the Chinese woman with 1-4 votes.
The 33-year-old boxer from Asenovgrad is a world champion since 2014 in Jeju (up to 54 kg), a two-time European champion from 2016 (up to 54 kg) and 2018 in Sofia (up to 57 kg), as well as a two-time winner of the European games in 2019 in Minsk (up to 57kg) and 2023 in Krakow (up to 54kg). She has two bronze medals from the European Championships in 2019 in Alcobendas (up to 57 kg) and 2022 in Budva (up to 54 kg).
Petrova competed at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, losing in the first round on both occasions.