SPORTS SHORTS 179: NESTHY PETECIO WINS OVER MARCELAT MATSU OF CONGO, GYMNAST CARLOS YULO FAILS TO ADVANCE IN HIS FAVORITE FLOOR EXERCISES BUT QUALIFIES IN VAULT
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 25 Jul 2021
Nesthy Petecio started her quest for the gold with a bang winning by unanimous decision over Congo’s Marcelat Sakobi Matshu in the Tokyo Olympics boxing competition on Saturday at Kokugikan Stadium.
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Four of the judges scored the bout for Petecio a 30-27 shut-out, as the other judge handed a close score of 29-28 giving the first round to the Congolese.
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Petecio dominated the whole three rounds of the bout, penetrating the defense of her taller opponent and connecting precise head punches. She was never threatened in all the rounds and effectively defended and countered the African's rally in the final round.
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Petecio advances in the women’s featherweight (54-57 kilograms) division against Taiwanese world No. 1 Lin Yu-ting. The 2019 AIBA Women's Boxing Championship featherweight gold medalist will enter the Round of 16 where she will face the top-seeded featherweight fighter Lin on July 26.
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Philippine boxing head coach Don Abnett of Australia said Petecio could still improve more in the next round. "It was a scrappy performance,” Abnett said. “I felt she left some of her boxing skills in the dressing room. She can do better. But it’s better to win a scrappy fight than to lose a scrappy fight.”
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Filipino Kurt Barbosa lost 26-6 to Jang Jun of South Korea in their men's -58 kilogram opening-round match in Tokyo on Saturday. It was a very easy win for Jang, scoring securely over Barbosa in the first two rounds and leading, 26-6, when the officials put the mercy rule, that is, the 20-point gap rule, to stop the contest.
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Jang is the world No. 1-ranked fighter in his division and a 2-time world champion and multiple Grand Prix champion. But Jang lost an upset to Tunisia's Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi 16-11 in the semifinals.
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Barbosa would have had a chance to fight for a bronze medal via repechage had Jang won all the way to the final bout. The repechage allows losers to finalists to fight additional matches that, should they win, would award them a bronze medal.
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Swimmer Remedy Rule fails to enter the semifinals of the women's 100m butterfly after clocking in 59.68 in the second heat, which placed her 25th overall. Only the top 16 swimmers qualified for the next round.
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Filipino rower Cris Nievarez proceeded to the quarterfinal round in the men's singles sculls event, Friday (July 23). Nievarez, the only Filipino athlete who competed on the opening day, finished with a time of 7:22.97 to attain third place in Heat 5 at the Sea Forest Waterway in Odaiba, Japan.
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Carlos Yulo’s best chance for a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics went for naught on Saturday with his exacting performance in the floor exercise in the artistic gymnastics qualification phase at the Ariyake Gymnasium.
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But Yulo secured a spot in the Artistic Gymnastics men’s vault final. He remained a contender for a medal in Tokyo after he placed sixth in vault with a score of 14.712 in the qualification on Saturday.
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The Manila-born Yulo had miscalculations in his routine early and failed miserably in the event where he won the gold medal at the world championships just two years ago.
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Yulo finished in 44th place in a field of 64 with a 13.566 score which was outside the Top 8 that would make it to the finals in the apparatus. Yulo, however, qualified for the vault finals after finishing sixth with a 14.712 score.
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The United States men's basketball team will play France Sunday. They are under Group A: Czech Republic, France, Iran, United States. The other groups were: Group B: Australia, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Group C: Argentina, Japan, Slovenia, Spain.
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France has six active NBA players, namely, Nicolas Batum (Clippers), Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (Nets), Evan Fournier (Celtics), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Frank Ntilikina (Knicks) and Vincent Porier (76ers). The former NBA players are Nando de Colo (2013-14) and Guerschon Yabusele (2017-19).
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In totality, 339 medals will be awarded across 33 sports. The record for the most golds won at a single Olympics is 83, which the United States achieved at the 1984 Summer Games.
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China took the first medal of the Tokyo Olympics on the first day, also setting a new Games record. Yang Qian beat Antasiia Galashina of the Russia Olympic Committee (ROC) in a tense women’s 10m air rifle final, with Switzerland’s Nina Christen taking bronze.
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Japan won their first home gold, when Naohisa Takato claimed victory in the men’s 60kg judo final. He avenged a disappointing defeat of Funa Tonaki to Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi in the women’s 48kg final. Her silver was Japan’s first medal of the Games.
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Tokyo Olympics top ten medal standings:
Country-Gold-Silver-Bronze-Total
1. China 3-0-1-4
2. Japan 1-1-0-2
3. South Korea 1-0-1-2
4. Ecuador 1-0-0-1
4. Iran 1-0-0-1
4. Kosovo 1-0-0-1
7. ROC 0-1-1-2
7. Serbia 0-1-1-2
9. Belgium 0-1-0-1
9. India 0-1-0-1
9. Netherlands 0-1-0-1
9. Romania 0-1-0-1
9. Chinese Taipei 0-1-0-1
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Russia, or the Russian Federation, is the official name of the largest country in the world and one of the international sports powers being ranked 4th in Rio 2016 after winning 56 medals. But at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Russia is banned from using their name, flag, or anthem.
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Instead, the country will compete under the name "ROC", the acronym for the Russian Olympic Committee. This is because Russia was sanctioned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after it was accused of running a state-backed doping program.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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