The Olympics Schedule for Team Philippines August 3, 2021, will have pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena and boxer Nesthy Petecio competing in their final events, while boxer Carlo Paalam fights for a podium finish.
EJ OBIENA (Pole Vault/Athletics)
Men’s Pole Vault Final
6:20 p.m.
Ernest John “EJ” Obiena aims for gold in today’s final event in Men’s Pole Vault at the Olympic Stadium.
EJ Obiena began his bid for an Olympic medal on Saturday in the Men’s Pole Vault qualification round Group A by easily clearing 5.50m and 5.65m in his first attempts.
Obiena, however, needed three attempts to successfully clear 5.75 meters for a finals berth, as the Filipino nation held its breath and eventually cheered for the pole vaulter.
The Filipino champion will compete among the world’s top 14 pole vaulters for an Olympic medal on August 3, 6:20 p.m.
The World No. 6 and only Asian in the top 10 of the World Athletics ranking for Men’s Pole Vault has demonstrated that he is in peak condition for his Olympic debut in Tokyo by competing and winning against Olympic champions while resetting the Philippines’ national record twice, weeks ahead of the quadrennial meet.
In 2019, EJ cleared 5.81 meters in an outdoor pole-vaulting tournament in Italy to become the first Olympic qualifier of the Philippines to the 32nd Summer Olympic Games in Japan.
The Thomasian track and field athlete has been training in Italy in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and will now compete in the quadrennial Games against the world’s best pole vaulters.
NESTHY PETECIO (Boxing)
Women’s Featherweight (54-57 kg.)
Final, 12:05 p.m.
Nesthy Petecio is fighting to give the Filipino nation another gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics when she goes into the ring against Japan’s own Sena Irie past noon today.
Petecio advanced to the finals after winning her Women’s Featherweight 54-57 kg. semifinal match against Italy’s champion, Irma Testa via split decision, 4-1.
The Filipina boxer gained assurance of a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics after winning her quarterfinals bout by unanimous decision against Yeni Marcela Arias Castaneda of Colombia in the Women’s Featherweight match.
Petecio earlier surprised No. 1 seed Lin Yu-Ting of Chinese Taipei with a split decision win in their Round of 16 bout to advance to the quarterfinals.
Her first win at the Olympics was also via unanimous decision in the Round of 32 preliminaries match vs. Marcelat Sakobi Matshu of Congo held on Day 1 of the Summer Games in Japan.
The Filipina boxer has represented the Philippines in four editions of the SEA Games, winning a total of one gold and three silver medals. She won the featherweight division of the 2019 Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships.
CARLO PAALAM (Boxing)
Men’s Flyweight (48-52 kg.)
Quarterfinals, 10:15 a.m.
Carlo Paalam goes up against Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov in a quarterfinals ring fight for a podium finish.
Paalam advanced to the quarterfinals after winning his Men’s Flyweight 48-52 kg. Round of 16 fight against Mohamed Flissi of Algeria via unanimous decision, 5-0.
Paalam advanced to the Round of 16 Preliminaries after winning his ring bout via split decision, 4-1, against Brendan Irvine of Ireland in the Men’s Flyweight 52kg division of Round of 32.
Paalam won gold for the Philippines in the Korotkov Memorial Boxing Championships in Khabarovsk, Russia in 2018.
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