Tokyo—Eumir Marcial sent fellow pro Arman Darchinyan reeling to the canvas in a first-round knockout win that installed the Filipino middleweight in the semifinals of the 69-75kg division and assured the Philippines of another medal, a bronze, in the Summer Olympic Games at the Kokugikan Arena here on Sunday.
Described by his Australian coach Don Abnett as “more powerful now,” Marcial showed proof by connecting with a right hook to the face of the Armenian, who was counted out by referee Perez Olivares of Colombia at 2:11 of the opening round.
“Right hook ko ang naka-knockout sa kanya.
Hindi ko rin ine-expect ‘yung suntok na ‘yun. Basta ‘yung akin lang, bitaw lang ako ng suntok at ito naman ang pinag-ensayuhan namin, kaya nagkaroon na ng muscle memory na automatic na ‘yung katawan na sumusuntok at gumagalaw. Lahat po ‘yun nakuha namin sa training at talagang pinaghandaan po namin ito,” said Marcial.
The win assured the Philippines of a bronze, the second medal for the Olympic boxers here following the guaranteed silver of Nesthy Petecio in the women’s featherweight division.
Both boxers can upgrade the color of their medals if they win their next bouts – Petecio in the gold-medal duel on Tuesday against Japanese Sena Irie, and Marcial on Thursday in a semifinal showdown with former tormentor Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine.
Marcial’s first bout here, although not a knockout, was also showcase of his power as he rattled in the first round his Algerian opponent Algeran Younes Nemouchi, who was given a standing-8 count.
The 25-year-old Marcial will be taking on a Ukrainian rival that had beaten him in the 2018 Strandja Memorial in Sofia, Bulgaria, albeit under different circumstances.
“Ready po ako sa laban na ito. During nu’ng laban namin, na-injured ako, kaya natalo ako. Sa pakiramdam ko, kundisyon na kundisyon ako ngayon. Ready po ako sa laban na ito,” said Marcial.
Meanwhile, Juvic Pagunsan closed out with a one-under-par 70 and finished 55th in a field of 60 in the men’s golf competition of the Tokyo Olympics at the Kasumigaseki Country Club.
The 43-year-old Filipino pro never got going after an opening 66 as he finished with a four-day total of one-over 285 – a good 19 shots behind American gold-medal winner Xander Shauffele, who salvaged a par from a difficult position in the rough after a bad drive to clinch the gold medal on a closing 67 for 266, one shot ahead of South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini who closed with a fiery 61.
It will be the turn of Women’s US Open champion Yuka Saso and LPGA campaigner Bianca Pagdanganan to go for gold, starting on Wednesday, also in the same layout.
On Monday, Carlos Yulo vies in the men’s vault finals of artistic gymnastics, hoping to redeem himself from a disappointing performance in the floor exercise more than a week ago.
Yulo scored 14.733 points to land in sixth place in the vault and be with the top eight participants who advanced to the finals.
Unfortunately for Yulo, he landed in 44th place out of 64 competitors in his pet floor exercise.
In athletics, Kristina Knott gets on the Tokyo Olympic Stadium track on Monday morning to compete in the women’s 200 meters heats of athletics.
Knott will be running in Heat 7, the final heat, set for 10:18 a.m. (Manila time) hoping to break 23 seconds.
Her personal best is 23.01 seconds, a Philippine national record.
“My goal is to go sub-23 (seconds),” Knott told the Tokyo Olympics official website days before the pandemic Games opened on July 23.
