PARIS (Via PLDT Home) – Boxer Nesthy Petecio and swimmer Kayla Sanchez carried the torch when two of their teammates fell by the wayside in the Paris Olympic Games here on Tuesday (Paris time).
Petecio, who has made it a mission to finally snag a gold here after a silver-medal finish three years ago in the Tokyo Olympiad, began her quest with a scintillating unanimous decision win in the Round of 32, 57-kg division over Indian Jaismine Lamboria.
The 32-year-old Petecio toyed with her lanky, taller Indian foe, a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, despite her smaller reach. Using her speed and cunning, Petecio came with solid combinations, and deftly danced away from Jaismine’s wayward strikes.
Petecio is the second member of the boxing team to advance, after Aira Villegas.
Earlier, Sanchez made a splash in her Olympic debut for the Philippines, while rower Joanie Delgaco and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe were eliminated from contention, becoming the fifth and sixth Filipino athletes to fall by the wayside.
Born in Singapore to Filipino parents Noel and Susana, the 23-year-old Sanchez, who helped Canada win two medals at the Tokyo games in 2021, before earning Filipino citizenship two years ago, broke her own national record and secured a spot in the women’s 100m freestyle semifinals.
Sanchez timed an impressive 53.67 seconds to rip her own record of 54.25 seconds set in June, finishing fourth in her heat and securing a top 10 overall position.
The top qualifier was world record holder Sarah Sjoestroem (51.71) of Sweden, followed by Siobhan Haughey (53.02 of Hong Kong and Junxuan Yang of China (53.05).
Sanchez will compete in the semifinals on Wednesday morning at 3:33 a.m. (Philippine time) with a chance to advance to the final round on August 1 at 2:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Delgaco finished last in her quarterfinals heat of the women’s single sculls, clocking a time of 7:58.30 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium and falling short of the top three finishers who advanced to the semifinals.
Reigning Olympic champion Emma Twigg of New Zealand dominated the heat, while Switzerland’s Katharina Janzen and Spain’s Virginia Diaz Rivas also secured their spots in the next round.
Despite the result, Delgaco’s participation in the Paris Olympics marked a historic moment for the sport as she became the Philippines’ first female rower to make it to the Olympiad.
“Great effort Joanie. We are very proud of you,” said rowing president Patrick Gregorio of Delgaco’s showing, which nearly netted for her a place in the semis.
“Nag-cramps si Serbia sa last 200 meters. Muntik pa mahabol ni Joanie,” said Gregorio. “Two- second lead lang. She could have placed 4th. Malapit din nya sa Azerbaijan, who placed fourth. Once again, mabuhay ka. Onward tomorrow for world ranking.”
Along with Delgaco, Diana Dymchenko of Azerbaijan (7:53.76) and Jovana Arsic of Serbia (7:56.18) were also eliminated from medal contention after finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Filipina rowing ace will still see action in the classification rounds to determine her final ranking in the Summer Games.
Meanwhile, Watanabe suffered another early exit from the Olympics after a swift defeat at the hands of China’s Tang Jing in the round of 32 of the women’s -63kg division. Tang secured an ippon victory in less than a minute.
The 22nd-ranked Chinese judoka dominated the bout, overpowering the 27-year-old Watanabe. With relentless pressure, Tang pinned the world No. 92 judoka, leading to the decisive ippon call just 20 seconds later.
This marked Watanabe’s second consecutive Olympic exit in the opening round, following a similar fate at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Tang advanced to the round of 16 where she will face Kosovo’s Laura Fazliu.
Also eliminated from contention two days earlier were Fil-Am gymnasts Ema Malabuyo, Levi Ruivivar and Aleah Finnegan, and fencer Samantha Catantan.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline Paris 2024: Sanchez swims to semis of women’s 100m freestyle
