PH boxing’s medal machine roars along efficiently with Magno dominating higher-ranked Kenyan foe even as Petecio climbs ring again

Underneath heavy fireplace from Irish Magno’s “bread-and-butter” recreation plan—a sample of assault schemed by coaches off detailed scouting to open up photographs to the physique and the top—Kenya’s Christine Ongare was toast.

Magno was in all places on Sunday, smothering her higher-ranked foe with crisp, jarring photographs on the ring of the Kokugikan Enviornment right here and mending hearts damaged by a painful defeat Workforce Philippines suffered the evening earlier than.

Half of what she completed within the Tokyo Olympics ladies’s boxing flyweight preliminaries was comparatively straightforward.

“We scouted her opponent two nights in the past and developed some ways, and she or he was just about snug with it,” stated boxing head coach Don Abnett.

Salvaging morale

The second half, the salvaging of a morale bruised by gymnast Carlos Yulo’s surprising exit within the ground train preliminaries the evening earlier than, was somewhat bit more durable. And sure conscious of the implications of her victory for an Olympic delegation that had simply misplaced its brightest hope of ending a tiring gold-medal wait, Magno selected to tie down doubtlessly hovering expectations.

“Let’s not purpose too excessive first,” Magno stated with little prodding.

“Let’s take this step-by-step.”

On the ring, Magno did it punch by punch, stepping out and in of Ongare’s vary and by no means giving her opponent an opportunity in any respect. The Filipino gained all of the rounds on all of the judges’ scorecards—with one giving her a 10-8 within the third.

“She stayed out and in of [Ongare’s] punching vary and delivered ‘bread-and-butter’ strikes—jabs and straights,” Abnett stated. The jab-straights to the physique and head saved Ongare uncovered, permitting Magno to feed her with vicious crosses.

Previous, conquered enemy

Up subsequent for Magno is Jutamas Jitpong of Thailand, who was the final boxer the Filipino beat within the 2019 Southeast Asian Video games. Magno eradicated Jitpong within the semifinals earlier than ultimately dropping to Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Tam within the ultimate.

Magno’s dominating efficiency right here got here because the Philippines was stripped of two extra lengthy shot bets.

Cris Nievarez, who turned the primary Filipino rower to make it to the quarterfinals of the Summer season Video games, jumped off to a quick begin within the males’s single sculls and was briefly among the many leaders earlier than fading on the best way to elimination at Sea Forest Waterway.

Jayson Valdez additionally faltered, his first foray into Olympic taking pictures competitors ending proper within the qualification spherical of the boys’s 10-meter air rifle occasion at Asaka Capturing.

This isn’t the tip of their Olympic journeys, nevertheless.

Just like the 21-year-old Yulo, Nievarez, additionally 21, and Valdez, 25, have gained precious expertise sufficient for them to recalibrate their plans and refocus their sights on Paris 2024.

Whereas Magno’s win actually kickstarted a stalled medal engine, an Olympic silver medalist, a reigning world champion and an Asian champion hope to get the motor buzzing once more on Monday, when the nation steps up its drive for gold right here.

Rio de Janeiro Olympics weightlifting runner-up Hidilyn Diaz takes on a discipline that options ladies’s 55 kilogram world document holder Liao Qiuyun of China at Tokyo Worldwide Discussion board.

“There are occasions when the nervousness is simply too excessive; there are occasions once I can’t sleep due to the strain,” Diaz advised the Inquirer’s SportsIQ earlier than arriving in Tokyo.

That was additionally earlier than a lot of the load of golden hopes had been placed on the shoulders of the diminutive Yulo.

Skateboarding’s Margielyn Didal, the Asian Video games gold medalist for the road self-discipline, can also be being counted on closely to ship a medal regardless of the throng of world-class skate boarders she is going to face, however the Cebu lass has taken a chill method to her bid.

“Skateboarding’s not about how good or dangerous you’re skating, so long as you’re having fun with it,” Didal stated by way of flash quotes offered by Video games organizers. “For this, the Olympics, the primary one which might be within the historical past books, like there’s loads of good rivals, however I’m simply going to attempt to take pleasure in it and cherish each second of this contest.”

Reigning ladies’s featherweight champion Nesthy Petecio climbs the ring anew as she hopes to comply with up on her opening-day victory when she battles harmful Taiwanese Lin Yu-Ting, the present world No. 1.

Petecio, ranked No. 7, might be a giant underdog within the match, however her coaches hope {that a} much-improved efficiency from her first bout will permit her to sail via.

Petecio has a minimum of one factor going for her: In a coaching camp in Thailand, she sparred with a Thai boxer with a mode just like that of Lin. And though there have been blended outcomes throughout these sparring classes, in the long run, head coach Abnett stated, Petecio “received it proper.”

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