We have mentioned in past
articles the week before, how the high-medal mark of the Philippines in terms of
participation in the Olympics came way back in 1932, during the Summer Games in
Los Angeles. A high-jumper, a boxer and a swimmer scored three bronze medals
for the country while competing in that West Coast US city which at the time of
the Olympics had weather conditions similar to “back home.” The 2020-21 Tokyo
Summer Olympics is seeing a repeat of that glorious year as athletes of Team PH
have equaled the total medal count, with higher-value medals as well.
Technically, only women’s
weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz has actually won her medal – a Gold one, even – at the
ongoing Summer Olympics in Tokyo. But as CNN
Philippines puts it, two of the national contingent’s boxers have advanced
sufficiently enough in their weight division events to guarantee a podium
finish even if everything goes wrong in their next bouts. First, women’s
featherweight bet Nesthy Petecio has made it to the finals match after
overcoming Italy’s Irma Testa in the semi-finals this past Satuday, July 31. As
for the men’s middleweight division, Eumir Marcial secured his semi-final berth
the following Sunday, August 1, after beating Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan.
A wonderful weekend at the Tokyo
Olympics was had by Petecio and Marcial, who have both guaranteed a silver and
bronze finish respectively following their latest victories at the Ryogoku
Kokugikan arena. Nesthy was up first this past Saturday, facing the Italian
Irma Testa for the first women’s featherweight semifinals bout. Following three
intense rounds the Davaoeña fighter secured a near-perfect 4-1 split decision. She
will thus face Japanese contender Sena Irie, who blitzed past Karriss
Artingstall of the UK in their semifinal match, 3-2.
Come Sunday, the first day of
August, it was Eumir Marcial’s turn. He had skipped the Round of 32 and
immediately went to the Round of 16, beating Algeria’s Youne Nemouchi with a
referee stoppage due to injury. Yesterday’s quarterfinal match pitted Marcial
against Arman Darchinyan of Armenia. He is the nephew of 2000 Sydney Olympian
Vic Darchinyan, who in his pro career has beaten and got beaten by Filipino
fighters; the latter included losses from Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire.
Arman may need more experience against Marcial after the Filipino made him
endure a standing eight-count, then suffer a full KO with only 50 seconds left
in the first round.
Nesthy Petecio will fight for the
women’s featherweight Gold against Sena Irie this coming Tuesday, August 3,
while Eumir Marcial will get a chance to upgrade his guaranteed men’s
middleweight bronze to silver, when he faces Ukranian Oleksandr Khyzhniak for
semifinals on Thursday, August 5.
Image courtesy of Inqurer.net Sports
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