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#LabanPilipinas: Petecio, Paalam, Obiena give PH reason to celebrate on Olympic Saturday

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Karl Cedrick Basco, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/sports/07/31/olympic.jpg"/><figcaption>Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and EJ Obiena brought sunshine to the Philippines on Saturday, advancing to the next rounds of their respective matches. <em>Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters and Ted Aljibe, AFP</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Three Filipino Olympians sent their countrymen abuzz on social media on Saturday, as they asserted themselves in their respective events at the Tokyo Games. </p><p>Pole-vaulter EJ Obiena opened the day on a high note after successfully clearing the 5.75 meters to advance in the final round. </p><p>Things looked easy at first for Obiena, passing the 5.50 meters and 5.65 meters in just one attempt. </p><p>But he missed the 5.75-meter mark after two attempts. With only one more chance to clear the bar, Obiena successfully crossed the bar to keep his medal hopes alive. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/31/21/olympics-ej-obiena-advances-to-pole-vault-finals">Olympics: EJ Obiena advances to pole vault final</a></li></ul><p>Several minutes after, Carlo Paalam stepped into the boxing ring anew for a Round of 16 bout against the 3-time Olympian foe Mohamed Flissi of Algeria.</p><p>With a quarterfinal slot on the line, Paalam dominated the fourth-seeded Algerian boxer via unanimous decision to advance to the next round, putting him just a win away from an assured Olympic medal. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/31/21/carlo-paalam-enters-quarterfinals-boxing-olympics">Olympics: Carlo Paalam beats Algerian foe to enter flyweight quarterfinals</a></li></ul><p>Nesthy Petecio, already assured of a medal, put the icing on the cake when she put herself in position for a gold medal in women’s featherweight boxing. </p><p>Petecio bucked first round jitters with a flurry of punches in the second and third rounds to snatch the win over the taller Italian foe Irma Testa in the semifinals. </p><p>The 4-1 split decision victory by Petecio put the Philippines on the cusp of a second Olympic gold medal in the Summer Games. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/31/21/nesthy-petecio-advances-gold-medal-bout-olympics">Boxer Petecio advances to final, one win away from Olympic gold</a></li></ul><p>The series of victories excited many Filipinos, showering their admiration and support to Petecio on social media with “Nesthy” and “Laban Pilipinas” trended on Twitter. </p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Obiena, Petecio, and Paalam. What a great day for PH sports. Go for GOLD! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LabanPilipinas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LabanPilipinas</a> 🇵🇭</p>— Aaron Aspi (@aaron_aspi) <a href="https://twitter.com/aaron_aspi/status/1421350323591864321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="tl">Ang galing ng ating mga atleta!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LabanPilipinas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LabanPilipinas</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Olympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Olympics</a></p>— KR (@kradarne) <a href="https://twitter.com/kradarne/status/1421350043416633344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Ang galing 😏<br/><br/>Nesthy Petecio is into the gold medal match in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Boxing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Boxing</a> - Women&#x27;s Feather (54-57kg)<br/><br/>It will be on 3 August at 13:05 at the Kokugikan Arena 🔔</p>— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tokyo2020/status/1421342584392228866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="tl">Ang sarap maging Pilipino kapag alam mong may kapwa kang nagtatagumpay, umuukit ng kasaysayan at lumalaban nang buong puso at husay para sa kanyang sarili at para sa bayan sa pandaigdigang entablado. ✨🇵🇭<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GalingNatinIto?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GalingNatinIto</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Olympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Olympics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LabanPilipinas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LabanPilipinas</a></p>— ♂️ (@mimingseok99) <a href="https://twitter.com/mimingseok99/status/1421345289621803016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>The three Olympians will all see action on Tuesday, August 3. </p><p>Last week, the country widely celebrated the historic feat of Hidilyn Diaz when she ended the 97-year gold medal drought of the Philippines at the Olympics, winning the women’s 55kg event in weightlifting.</p><div><em>For breaking news and latest developments on the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, visit <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/tokyo-olympics">https://news.abs-cbn.com/tokyo-olympics</a></em></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1738289" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>Three Filipino Olympians sent their countrymen abuzz on social media on Saturday, as they asserted themselves in their respective events at the Tokyo Games. </p>

Three Filipino Olympians sent their countrymen abuzz on social media on Saturday, as they asserted themselves in their respective events at the Tokyo Games.

#LabanPilipinas: Petecio, Paalam, Obiena give PH reason to celebrate on Olympic Saturday

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#LabanPilipinas: Petecio, Paalam, Obiena give PH reason to celebrate on Olympic Saturday

Karl Cedrick Basco,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 31, 2021 02:44 PM PHT

|

Updated Jul 31, 2021 11:42 PM PHT

Read More:

Olympics

Tokyo Olympics

boxing

pole vault

EJ Obiena

Nesthy Petecio

Carlo Paalam

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