Joy, sorrow for Pinoys in Paris

PARIS ­– Members of Team Philippines returned to camp Tuesday night with a heavy heart as two top boxers climbed the ring and one – Eumir Marcial – went down in tears.

Adding to the despair was swimmer Kayla Sanchez establishing a Philippine record in making the women’s 100m freestyle semifinals but then slowing down in the night session and missing the final.

Light heavyweight Marcial and Sanchez, both podium finishers in Tokyo in 2021, ended their Paris campaigns with shattered dreams.

At midday Wednesday, the losing streak for Team Philippines continued with female pug Hergie Bacyadan yielding to Chinese top seed Li Qian in their 75kg Round of 16 showdown.

“Thankful pa rin ako at happy nakapag-compete ako dito. Talo lang ako sa experience,” said Bacyadan, a wushu, vovinam and kickboxing artist who’s new in boxing.

Marcial, Sanchez and Bacyadan were the latest casualties from the 22-strong Philippine contingent, joining fencer Sam Catantan, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe and gymnasts Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo and Levi Ruivivar.

Buried by sad emotions was the joy and excitement provided earlier by Nesthy Petecio in her dominant conquest of Indian Jaismine Lamboria in their women’s 57kg Round of 32 clash at the Paris North Arena.

Team Philippines was to regroup, hoping to regain momentum as Carlo Paalam was to start his own quest in the boxing arena Wednesday night.

Gymnast Carlos Yulo, meanwhile, was to perform in the all-around final over at the Bercy Arena at around midnight in Manila.

Falling by the wayside was Marcial after a shock defeat to young, tall Uzbek Turabek Khabibullaev in their 80kg Round of 16 dispute.

Khabibullaev, 22, made good use of his long reach to frustrate Marcial who spent the night looking for an opening for a knockout shot but didn’t find one.

The Filipino fighter, a demolition man with two first-round KO wins in Tokyo, threw volumes only towards the end when it’s too late to overhaul Khabibullaev’s lead.

At the bell, Khabibullaev was the clear winner, gaining the nod of judges Bachir Abbar of Morroco, Holger Kussmaul of Germany, Jeffery Verhoeven of Canada, Shawn Reese of the USA and Atarbayar Byambabayar of Mongolia.

Like Marcial versus Khabibullaev, Petecio was up against a foe with much advantage in height and reach in Lamboria.

But Petecio fought a good fight, dominating Lamboria for a unanimous decision to start her pursuit of Paris glory after a silver feat in Tokyo.

“Maganda ang game plan namin ni coach Rey Galido at nag-stick lang ako doon,” said Petecio, up next versus home bet Amina Zidani in the Round of 16.

Over in the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena, Sanchez closed out her campaign at 15th out of 16 semifinalists in 100m freestyle with a time of 54.21 seconds.

Earlier, Sanchez, a silver and bronze winner as part of the Canadian relay team in the 2021 Tokyo Games, established a new Philippine record of 53.67 seconds in the heats.

With Sanchez done with her campaign, left to carry the Philippine flag in swimming is Jarod Hatch. He competes in men’s 100m butterfly Friday.

In women’s single sculls in rowing, Joanie Delgaco was relegated further down to the fight for 19th to 24 after placing fifth in her heat in the C/D semifinals.

A consolation for Delgaco was her better clocking (8:00.18) than Asian rivals Fatameh Mojallaltopraghghale of Iran (8:06.23) and Pham Thi Hue of Vietnam (8:22.85).