Pagdanganan slips, Saso rises

Yuka Saso climbed to joint 34th place after the second round of the women’s individual golf event, while Bianca Pagdanganan slipped to joint 27th.

Ending the first round at joint 47th, Saso fired a three-under par 68 as she sank five birdies.

Meanwhile, Pagdanganan dropped 20 rungs from her joint seventh-place finish in the first round despite a par 71, with other golfers able to move up the leaderboard.

American Nelly Korda sits at the top spot with a total of 13-under par 129.

(READ: Saso rises 13 places, Pagdanganan drops to joint 27th in Tokyo Olympics golf)

Marcial ends Tokyo campaign with bronze

Boxer Eumir Marcial wrapped up his Tokyo Olympics bid with a bronze as he fell short of a finals berth in the men’s middleweight class following a split decision loss to Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine.

Marcial led in the judges’ scorecards after the first two rounds, 2-1, with two judges having it tied, but a machine-like Khyzhniak owned the third round with identical 10-9 scores for the narrow victory.

Khyzhniak earned the nod of three of the five judges, 30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 28-29, 28-29.

(READ: Eumir Marcial goes home with Tokyo Olympics bronze after tight slugfest)

Paalam dominates hometown bet to reach finals

Boxer Carlo Paalam bid hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka of Japan sayonara as he reached the men’s flyweight finals with a unanimous decision win – a victory away from an Olympic gold.

Paalam is guaranteed of at least a silver after all five judges scored in his favor, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.

Tanaka kept the pressure on Paalam all throughout the bout, but the Filipino matched his aggression with precise counters to set up a gold-medal match against Galal Yafai of Great Britain.

(READ: Carlo Paalam outclasses home bet, gets crack at Olympic gold)

WATCH: Hidilyn cheers for Paalam

Weightlifting star and Olympic gold medalist HIdilyn Diaz gives her all out support for Carlo Paalam, who earned a shot at winning the Philippines’ first Olympic boxing gold.

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Filipino boxers Carlo Paalam and Eumir Marcial have their sights set on a double gold as they look to advance to the finals of their respective divisions on Thursday, August 5.

After dethroning Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan, Paalam seeks to stretch his Cinderella run with a win over hometown bet Ryomei Tanaka of Japan in their men’s flyweight semifinals at 1:30 pm.

Marcial, meanwhile, takes on Oleksandr Khyzhniak of Ukraine in their men’s middleweight semifinals at 2:03 pm as he guns for another stoppage win to follow up his knockout victory over Arman Darchinyan of Armenia.

A win will guarantee both Paalam and Marcial silver medals and will put them in a position to bag the Philippines’ first Olympic gold in boxing.

Earlier in the day, Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanganan resume their respective campaigns in the women’s individual golf event at 6:30 am.

The two Filipina golfers have found themselves on opposite ends of the leaderboard after the first round, with Pagdanganan sitting at joint seventh place and Saso at joint 47th.

(READ: Tokyo Olympics: Meet Team Philippines)

– Rappler.com