MANILA, Philippines – Boxer Aira Villegas hopes to inch closer to another gold medal for the Philippines as she leads four Filipinos in action in the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, August 7.
Here is Team Philippines’ schedule (Manila time):
- 4:18 am – Aira Villegas | boxing, women’s 50kg, semifinals
- 3 pm – Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina | golf, women’s individual stroke play, round 1
- 9 pm – John Ceniza | weightlifting, men’s 61kg, medal round
VILLEGAS NAILS BRONZE
Aira Villegas concludes her Paris Olympics campaign with a bronze medal after a unanimous decision loss to Turkey’s Buse Naz Cakiroglu in the women’s 50kg semifinals.
Cakiroglu, a former world champion and a silver medalist in the Tokyo Games, proves too much for Villegas as she dominantly wins by scores of 30-26, 30-26, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
Preview
Villegas resumes her golden bid, while weightlifter John Ceniza and golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina open their respective campaigns.
Already guaranteed of at least a bronze, Villegas aims to claim her place in the gold-medal match of the women’s 50kg class as she faces former world champion and Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Buse Naz Cakiroglu of Turkey.
The long wait is over for Pagdanganan and Ardina, who see action in the first of four rounds of the women’s individual stroke play.
Ceniza, meanwhile, is the first of the Philippines’ three weightlifting bets to compete as he eyes a medal in the men’s 61kg division. – Rappler.com