Petecio cruises to Round of 16
Marcial bows to Khabibullaev; Sanchez misses the final
PARIS — Members of Team Philippines returned to camp Tuesday night with a heavy heart as two top boxers climbed the ring and one went down in tears.
Adding to the despair was swimmer Kayla Sanchez establishing a Philippine record in making the women’s 100m freestyle semifinals but then slowing down in the night session and missing the final.
Eumir Marcial and Ms. Sanchez, both podium finishers in Tokyo in 2021, ended their Paris campaigns with shattered dreams. They’re the latest casualties from the 22-strong Philippine contingent, joining fencer Sam Catantan, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and gymnasts Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo and Levi Ruivivar.
Buried by sad emotions was the joy and excitement provided earlier by Nesthy Petecio in her dominant conquest of Indian Jaismine Lamboria in their women’s 57kg Round of 32 clash at the Paris North Arena.
Team Philippines was to regroup, hoping to regain momentum as Carlo Paalam and Hergie Bacyadan start their own quests in the boxing arena Wednesday night.
Gymnast Carlos Yulo, meanwhile, was to perform in the all-around final over at the Bercy Arena.
Falling by the wayside was Mr. Marcial after a shock defeat to young, tall Uzbek Turabek Khabibullaev in their 80kg Round of 16 dispute.
Mr. Khabibullaev, 22, made good use of his long reach to frustrate Mr. Marcial who spent the night looking for an opening for a knockout shot but didn’t find one.
The Filipino fighter, a demolition man with two first-round KO wins in Tokyo, threw volumes only towards the end when it’s too late to overhaul Mr. Khabibullaev’s lead.
At the bell, Mr. Khabibullaev was the clear winner, gaining the nod of judges Bachir Abbar of Morroco, Holger Kussmaul of Germany, Jeffery Verhoeven of Canada, Shawn Reese of the USA and Atarbayar Byambabayar of Mongolia.
Like Mr. Marcial versus Mr. Khabibullaev, Ms. Petecio was up against a foe with much advantage in height and reach in Ms. Lamboria.
But Ms. Petecio fought a good fight, dominating Ms. Lamboria for a unanimous decision to start her quest for Paris glory after a silver feat in Tokyo.
Ms. Petecio, up next versus home bet Amina Zidani in the Round of 16.
Over in the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena, Ms. Sanchez closed out her campaign at 15th out of 16 semifinalists in 100m freestyle with a time of 54.21 seconds.
Earlier, Ms. Sanchez, a silver and bronze winner as part of the Canadian relay team in the 2021 Tokyo Games, established a new Philippine record of 53.67 seconds in the heats.
With Ms. Sanchez done with her campaign, left to carry the Philippine flag in swimming is Jarod Hatch. He competes in men’s 100m butterfly Friday. — Nelson Beltran
