By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Today, three of our dear Filipino athletes will be aiming to clinch wins once again in the brightest lights of the Tokyo Olympics.
Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam in boxing and EJ Obiena in the men’s pole vault event will seek to make the entire nation proud as they vie for greatness in their respective categories.
With the arduous road these three athletes had to get to their current stage, it is just worthy to give them their highly deserved credit for putting the country at the top of the world of sports.
Obiena, the country’s bet in the men’s pole vault, finished 10th during the qualifying round after clearing the 5.75-meter mark in his last and final attempt.
The world no. 6 ranked pole vaulter had a decent run during the eliminations and was in his zone after every attempt.
Obiena will have strong competition against Olympic record holder Thiago Braz of Brazil, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, and KC Lightfoot of the USA who ranked first in Group A.
Obiena will need to perform above and beyond if he is to successfully take down these giants but one thing is for sure, the whole country is behind him in his quest.
Moving on, our representative in boxing’s men’s flyweight, Paalam, is squaring off against Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals.
The Filipino pug is fresh off his dominant win against Mohamed Flissi of Algeria via unanimous decision and is considered to be one of the most efficient fighters in the division.
In his two impressive outings in the Olympics, Paalam let everybody know that he is one of the most dangerous fighters among the flyweights.
Paalam has shown impressive striking and can switch his boxing approach to confuse opponents.
To get that gold, Paalam must stay consistent with his attack and tighten up his guard especially against Zoirov who loves to throw heavy punches in volume.
Last but not the least, Filipina boxer Petecio, who is just one win away from a gold medal finish in the women’s featherweight, is up against the hardest roadblock of her journey.
Awaiting her is hometown bet Sena Irie who just defeated Petecio during the Asia and Oceania Olympic Boxing Qualifiers in Jordan last March 2020.
Irie leads their current head-to-head matchup, 2-1, and will setup their fourth duel for gold supremacy in Tokyo.
Unfazed, Petecio showed nerves of steel in her past matches including her semifinals win against Irma Testa of Italy.
Testa had the better of Petecio in the first round and looked to take control of the match but the resilient Petecio dominated the succeeding rounds that led to a momentum-boosting victory.
Petecio’s ability to adapt to the fighting style of her opponents has been a big advantage for her, which has been evident since the Round of 32.
From a much bigger opponent to a quicker one, Petecio and her camp always had the answer on how to win and move on to the next stage.
Let us all support our PH athletes who will have their battles tomorrow in Tokyo! Paalam’s quarterfinals will be at 10:15 in the morning, followed by Petecio’s gold medal match at 12:00 noon, and Obiena’s final phase at 6:30 PM.
Mabuhay ang Pilipinas! Go for gold!
