MANILA, Philippines – Cris Nievarez deflected the credit of his fantastic Olympics debut to his coach after he booked an outright quarterfinals berth in Men's Single Sculls on Friday.
Speaking to One Sports' Gretchen Ho shortly after his race, the 21-year-old was all praises for Ukranian mentor Coach Shukrat Ganiev.
Here is Cris Nievarez after his heat! He says training with Ukrainian Coach Shukrat Ganiev and being able to practice for 5 days in Tokyo helped him in his race.
More on my story later via #FrontlinePilipinas @News5PH and #TheBigStory @onenewsph. pic.twitter.com/ReqCed5fFP— Gretchen Ho (@gretchenho) July 23, 2021
"Siguro [itong result] gawa din ng training program ni Coach Ganiev. Sobrang laking naitulong [niya]," said Nievarez.
"Yung preparation [rin] papunta dito sobrang maganda," he added.
TRACKER: Team Philippines at the Tokyo Olympics
Nievarez finished third in Heat 5 at the Sea Forest Waterway in Odaiba, Japan, after clocking in 7:22.57 — which was good enough for him to qualify to the next round with the Top 3 finishers of every heat through to the quarterfinals.
He was behind Crotia's Damir Martin and Russian Olympic Committee's Alexander Vyazovkin.
The Filipino's great performance to open his campaign thus gives him more time to prepare for the next round of competition set Monday, July 26.
"Masarap sa pakiramdam kasi derecho na po [ako] ng quarterfinal," said Nievarez.
"’Di na po magrerace bukas so maganda ulit yung preparation papunta naman ng quarterfinal," he added.
The 21-year-old is the first and only athlete to compete for Team Philippines before the opening ceremonies unfurl 7 p.m. Friday.
Gymnast Carlos Yulo, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa and swimmer Remedy Rule follow Nievarez with their debuts on Saturday.