Tokyo 2020 Day 13, 14 and 15 Highlights

Tokyo 2020 Day 13, 14 and 15 Highlights

Miggy Dumlao • August 8, 2021

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has officially come to an end. After a year’s delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Olympics pushed through this year and, as always, was filled with iconic moments.


While the Philippines was far from the country with the most medals in this iteration of the games, the country’s athletes have done the nation proud. The last three days of Tokyo for the Philippines only hammered home the fact that the country is a power in sports, especially when it comes to the sweet science of boxing.


Here are the highlights from the last three days of Tokyo 2020.

Day 13

Saso climbs up the rankings, Pagdanganan goes down


After a dismal start relative to her talent, golfer Yuka Saso reminded everyone why she is a contender for a podium finish in the women’s individual golf event in Tokyo. Saso climbed to joint 34th place after ending the first round at joint 47th. Saso hit three-under par 68 in the second round as she converted five birdies.


Bianca Pagdangan, however, had an opposite fate as she dropped 20 places despite hitting a par 71. This is after her joint seventh-place status after the first round.


Marcial loses semi final thriller, goes home with a bronze


Boxer Eumir Marcial ends his Olympic campaign with a bronze medal after a close split decision loss to Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in their men’s middleweight bout.


Marcial couldn’t continue his streak of first round knockouts as the Ukrainian kept up with the Filipino every round, ultimately winning out the match in the third round as Khyzhniak won the third unanimously with all judges scoring it 10-9 after being behind after the first two rounds to the Filipino.


Khyzhniak won the match after the judges scored it, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29, 28-29.


Paalam advances to the finals after beating Japanese foe


Paalam dashed Japanese hopes of another gold medal in boxing after he beat hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka in their men’s flyweight semifinals bout. Paalam secured a finals berth after his unanimous decision win.


Tanaka was the aggressor in the match but was outboxed and outclassed by the counter punching Paalam who now goes on to face Galal Yafai of Great Britain in the gold medal match.


All five judges scored the bout in Paalam’s favor, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.

Day 14

Saso surging, Pagdanganan slips


Golfers Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan continued their Olympic campaigns in the women’s individual golf event. The two had contrasting results in the third round of the event.


Saso fired a four-under par 67 after once again sinking five birdies. Meanwhile Pagdanganan scored another par 71, matching her score from the previous round.


After the third round, Saso is now at joint 20th while Pagdanganan is now at joint 29th.

Day 15

Saso and Pagdangan finish Olympic campaigns


Yuka Saso finished the final round of the women’s individual golf event with a six-under par 65. She was ultimately undone by her subpar first round performance as it was ultimately too big of a hole. Saso had a stellar final three rounds to finish in the top 10 of the event but was ultimately medalless after a total of 10-under par 274.


Pagdanganan slipped to joint 43rd place after finishing the final round with a three-over par 74 for a total of one-over par 285 in the event.


Paalam wraps up Philippines’ campaign with a valiant performance


Boxer Carlo Paalam came up short, losing via split decision, in his gold medal match in the men’s flyweight class against Great Britain’s Galal Yafai. A first round knockdown was the difference as Yafai took the first two rounds.


Paalam won the third round handily as all five judges scored the round 10-9 in his favor but it was ultimately not enough as the match was scored 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29.


Paalam’s silver medal added to the tally of the Philippines as the delegation finished with one gold, two silvers, and one bronze medal.

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