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Philippines, 14 Jan 2026 |
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SPORTS SHORTS 191: TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL FOR THE PHILIPPINES AS THE TOP SOUTHEAST ASIAN TEAM By Maloney L. Samaco PhilBoxing.com Sun, 08 Aug 2021  The most unique and pandemic-threatened Olympics came to a close after 17 days of competition from July 23-August 8, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. * * * The Philippines ended its Tokyo Olympics campaign as the top Southeast Asian nation in the medal standings after winning its biggest number of medals in the history of the Summer Games. * * * With a historic gold medal, plus two silvers, and one bronze medal, the Philippines displaced Indonesia for the honor as top performer in the region in a single Olympics for the first time since the country's three medal haul in the 1932 Los Angeles Games. * * * Hidilyn Francisco Diaz, born February 20, 1991 in Zamboanga City, a Staff Sergeant of the Philippine Air Force, became the first Filipino to ever win an Olympic gold medal and held the Olympic weightlifting record by winning the women's 55 kg category at the 2020 Olympics. * * * She set records in the clean and jerk at 127 kg and in the total at 224 kg. She lifted 127kg in her last attempt at clean and jerk for a total of 224kg, to overcome world record holder Liao Qiuyun of China whose 223kg total was edged only by one kg. It was a very exciting battle that resulted in a historic victory for the country. * * * Carlo Paalam, born July 16, 1998 in Talakag, Bukidnon, pulled a split decision win against Irish Brendan Irvine. He won by a unanimous decision against World Championship silver and bronze Medalist Mohamed Flissi of Algeria. He upset reigning Olympic gold medalist Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan by a 4–1 split decision. * * * Paalam defeated Japanese Ryomei Tanaka by a unanimous decision, 5–0, to advance to the gold medal match. He lost to British boxer Galal Yafai in the finals of the men's flyweight event by a 4–1 split decision. * * * Nesthy Alcayde Petecio, born April 11, 1992 in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, scored a 5-0 victory against Marcelat Sakobi Matshu of Congo. Then she defeated Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei, 3-2. She dominated Yeni Arias of Columbia, 5-0, to become the first Filipina to win a medal in Olympic boxing. * * * She then defeated Irma Testa of Italy, 4-1, in the semifinals to advance to the final. She lost to her long time amateur rival Sena Irie of Japan in the final, by unanimous decision, 0-5, to capture the silver medal, the first Olympic boxing medal won by a Filipino boxer in 25 years. * * * Eumir Felix de los Santos Marcial, born October 29, 1995 in Lunzuran, Zamboanga City. He won by TKO against Algerian boxer Younes Nemouchi in the Round of 16. He stopped Armenian boxer Arman Darchinyan by a KO in the quarter finals. * * * Marcial faced Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak in the semifinals and lost by a 3-2 split decision. Marcial brought home the first bronze medal by a Filipino boxer since 1992 Barcelona Olympics courtesy of Roel Velasco. * * * Other Filipino athletes performed well though they missed the podium finish. Yet they bring honor and glory to the country. Qualifying for the Olympics is itself already a huge accomplishment, meaning they are one of the best in the world. * * * Carlos Edriel Yulo, born February 16, 2000 in Malate, Manila, made the final of the vault event and placed fourth in artistic gymnastics but finished 44th in the floor exercise, where he was the favorite. His final mark was just 0.067 below the gold medal winner. * * * Irish Magno, born July 27, 1991 in Janiuay, Iloilo, won via unanimous decision, 5-0, over Kenya's Christine Ongare in the round of 32. He lost to Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand in the women’s flyweight round of 16. * * * Margielyn Arda Didal, born April 19, 1999 in Cebu City, finished seventh in the final of the women’s skateboarding street event of her Olympic debut in Tokyo. * * * Elreen Ann Ando, born November 1, 1998 in Cebu City, ended at seventh place in the Olympic women's 64 kg weightlifting event. She recorded a 100kg in the snatch and 122kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 222kg in her Olympic debut. * * * Yuka Saso, born June 20, 2001 in San Ildefonso, Bulacan, surged for a huge comeback from 47th place in the opening round to soar to a joint 9th finish in the fourth round in the women’s golf competition. * * * Ernest John Uy Obiena, born November 17, 1995 in Tondo, Manila, finished his Olympics campaign at 11th place in the men's pole vault event. Obiena was the only Asian in the final, cleared the 5.70m mark after three attempts before failing to clear the bar at 5.80m. * * * Cris Marasigan Nievarez, born April 4, 2000 of Atimonan, Quezon, competed in the men's single sculls event and finished third among five rowers in Heat 5, qualifying for the quarterfinal round. In the semifinal, Nievarez finished fifth, which meant that he is out of the medal contention. * * * Kurt Bryan Barbosa, born June 8, 1999, a native of Bangued, Abra, lost to the top-seeded Jang Jun of South Korea, 26-6, in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics' taekwondo men's -58kg event. * * * Kiyomi Watanabe, born August 25, 1996 in Cebu City, had her Olympics campaign came to a sudden end after falling to world No. 37 Cristina Cabana Perez of Spain in the judo women's -63kg event. * * * Kristina Marie Knott, born September 25, 1995 in Orlando, Florida, U. S., is a Filipino-American track and field athlete. She failed to advance further into the Olympics athletics tournament after finishing fifth and last in heat 7 of the women's 200m run at the Olympic Stadium. * * * Bianca Isabel Pagdanganan, born October 28 1997, a native of Quezon City, fell to 43rd in her maiden Olympic golf campaign. She dropped after opening the tournament at joint 7th in the first round. * * * Jayson Valdez, born September 15, 1995, a native of Pasay City, failed to make the top eight cut for the final when he placed 44th out of 47 in the men's 10m air rifle qualification round. * * * Juvic Pagunsan, born May 11, 1978 in Manila, ended his Tokyo 2020 Olympics campaign at solo 55th place in the men's golf tournament. He had a hot start to his Olympic campaign, surging to joint fifth in the opening round. * * * Luke Michael Gebbie, born November 7, 1996, based in Melbourne, Australia. He finished first in the heat in the men's 50m freestyle but failed to make the top 16 swimmers. He finished 41st overall in the event. He finished 36th out of the 70 participants of the men's 100m freestyle preliminaries. * * * Remedy Alexis Rule, born September 27, 1996 and is US-based, advanced to the semis in the women's 200m butterfly Heat 3. She placed 15th overall to make the top 16 cut for a semifinal berth. She placed last in Heat 2, and 15th overall in the semifinals. Rule failed to advance in the women's 100m butterfly and placed 25th overall. * * * Top 20 Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal standings: Country Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total 1. United States 39-41-33-113 2. China 38-32-18-88 3. Japan 27-14-17-58 4. Great Britain 22-21-22-65 5. ROC 20-28-23-71 6. Australia 17-7-22-46 7. Netherlands 10-12-14-36 8. France 10-12-11-33 9. Germany 10-11-16-37 10. Italy 10-10-20-40 11. Canada 7-6-11-24 12. Brazil 7-68-21 13. New Zealand 7-6-7-20 14. Cuba 7-3-5-15 15. Hungary 6-7-7-20 16. South Korea 6-4-10-20 17. Poland 4-5-5-11 18. Czech Republic 4-4-3-11 19. Kenya 4-4-2-10 20. Norway 4-2-2-8 * * * Southeast Asian nations medal standings: Country Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total 50. Philippines 1-2-1-4 55. Indonesia 1-1-3-5 59. Thailand 1-0-1-2 74. Malaysia 0-1-1-2 Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.  |
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