MANILA: Boxer Eumir Marcial and swimmer Kayla Sanchez bid their Paris Olympics medal hopes goodbye early Wednesday.
Marcial was on the wrong end of one of the biggest upsets so far in the boxing event as the 2021 Tokyo bronze medalist fell prey to Olympic debutant Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan in the round of 16 at North Paris Arena.
The 20-year-old Khabibullaev caught Marcial by surprise in the first two rounds, banking on superb technical boxing to outpoint him six minutes in.
Marcial turned things around in Round 3 in the hopes of scoring a much-needed knockout, but despite getting the nod from three judges in that round, it was not enough to prevent Khabibullaev from scoring the unanimous decision win.
Shawn Reese had it 30-27, while Bachir Abbar, Holger Kussmaul, Jeffery Verhoeven and Atarbayar Byambabayar all scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Khabibullaev.
Marcial, who drew a first-round bye, later revealed in a Facebook post that he sustained an injury two weeks prior “that prevented me to mo
ve and do my usual training, which also affected my mental strength and overall performance.”
He said he was devastated and can’t explain his loss.
“It’s a difficult place to be in, no one really prepares to lose,” he wrote on Facebook. “But like I said, there’s no excuses. The people know that it has always been my absolute dream to win the gold medal at the Olympics not just for myself, for my family, but most especially, for the Philippines.”
Minutes later, Sanchez was also shown the door after missing the medal round cut in the women’s 100-meter freestyle swimming event at Paris La Defense Arena.
Sanchez finished seventh in Heat 2 of the semifinals and 15th overall, way outside the top 8, with a time of 54.21 seconds, which was a bit slower than the new national record 53.65 she set in the preliminaries on Tuesday night.
World record holder Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden headlines the finalists after finishing third in Heat 2 in 52.87 seconds behind Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan (52.75) and China’s Yang
Junxuan (52.81).
Source: Philippines News Agency