July 30 ------ IT’S Eumir Marcial and Nesthy Petecio’s turn to go to battle for Team Philippines in the Paris Olympics boxing competitions, as Joanie Delgaco, Kiyomi Watanabe, and Kayla Sanchez see action in Day Four of the Games today.
Marcial battles Turabek Khabibullaev of Ukraine at 9:04 p.m. Paris time (Wednesday, 3:04 a.m. Manila time) in boxing's 80kg division, after Petecio slugs it out against Jaismine of India at 5:38 p.m. Paris time (Tuesday, 11:38 p.m. Manila time) in the women’s 75kg class. Delgaco looks to stretch her medal bid as she competes in the quarterfinals of the women’s single sculls at 9:30 a.m. Paris time (3:30 p.m. Manila time).
Watanabe also plunges into action in judo as she goes up against Tang Jing of China in the women’s -63kg round-of-32 at 10 a.m. (4 p.m. Manila time). Sanchez opens the Philippine team’s swimming campaign as she races in Heat 4 of the women’s 100m freestyle at 12:47 p.m. (6:47 p.m. Manila time) with the goal of registering one of the 16 fastest times among 29 swimmers to advance to the semifinals. But the focus will no doubt be on the two boxers who will begin their quest to repeat, if not surpass, their medal feats at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Marcial took home the bronze medal from Tokyo but in the now-scrapped 75kg, and will now go for the medal in a heavier weight class where he is the seventh-seed in the formidable Paris field. Petecio, who fell one win short of the gold three years ago, is unseeded this time. The winner of her bout against Jaismine faces home heroine Amina Zidani, the third-ranked boxer in her weight category. Marcial and Petecio will be seeking to sustain the momentum for Philippine boxers after Aira Villegas beat Yasmine Mouttaki of Morocco last Monday to arrange a showdown with No. 2 seed Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria.
In rowing, Delgaco will try to breach the Top 3 mark in Heat 3 of 4 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, but faces great odds as reigning Olympic champion Emma Twigg of New Zealand is in her heat.
Source: spin.ph
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