Villegas keeps PH medal hopes alive; Hatch begins 100m butterfly bid

MANILA: Aira Villegas celebrated one of her most memorable birthdays with a unanimous decision win over Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria in the Paris Olympics women's boxing 50kg round of 16 early Friday (PH time) at North Paris Arena. She turned 29 on Aug. 1 and immediately made the quarterfinals against France's Wassila Lkhadiri. Their match is set Saturday at 3:20 a.m. (PH time). Nesthy Petecio (women's 57kg), will follow against first-time Olympian Amina Zidani of France for a similar spot in the quarterfinals. Carlo Paalam (men's 57kg) will face Australian Charlie Senior in the quarterfinals at about 9:30 p.m. The quarterfinal winners are already assured of at least bronze. Later from 5 p.m. onwards, swimmer Jarod Hatch plunges into the men's 100m butterfly heats. As of 4 p.m., China leads the medal race with an 11-7-6 gold-silver-bronze tally, followed by the United States (9-15-13), France (8-11-8), Australia (8-6-4), Japan (8-3-5), South Korea (6-3-3) and Italy (5-7-4). No Southeast Asian nation has landed on the medal table as of posting time. Source: Philippines News Agency