TOKYO—Nesthy Petecio’s silver medal in boxing glittered as the best performance on Tuesday for Team Philippines, whose quest for more gold medals in the Tokyo Olympics now rests on two boxers and two golfers.
Petecio lost in the gold medal bout of the women’s featherweight class against Japan’s Sena Irie via unanimous decision to contribute her silver to the country’s haul so far topped by the gold medal Hidilyn Diaz won in weightlifting nine days ago.
Earlier on Tuesday, Carlo Paalam slayed a giant in boxing’s flyweight division—Olympic and world Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan—on points by split decision for a guaranteed bronze medal.
Paalam’s victory came one minute and 16 seconds into the second round after Ukrainian referee Pavlo Vasylynchuk stopped the fight as both boxers sustained head injuries following an accidental headbutt.
Paalam and Eumir Felix Marcial remain as the country’s gold medal hopes, with Marcial already assured of a bronze medal also in his Olympic debut.
Ernest John “EJ” Obiena, meanwhile, couldn’t clear 5.80 meters to bow out of the men’s pole vault finals late Tuesday at the Japan Olympic Stadium.
Obiena missed all three chances to clear 5.80m, 7 cms below his personal best of 5.87m which also stands at the Philippine national record. The bar was first set at 5.50 for the 12 finalists, with Obiena surviving on his third and final attempt at the initial height.
It will be Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan’s turn to lure the spotlight to the Kasumigaseki Golf Club where the Philippines’s top 2 golfers square off with a star-studded 60-player field and a scorching Japanese summer.
Pagdanganan tees off at 7:52 a.m. with Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Finland’s Matilda Castren while Saso will be with Canada’s Brooke Henderson and American Lexi Thompson, the same golfer she chased to win the US Women’s Open.
National coach Miggy Alejandro will carry Saso’s bag at least for the next two days after her regular caddie Lionel Matichuk was rushed to a hospital after suffering from heat stroke in a practice round on Tuesday.
