Five athletes from boxing and rowing were among the first from the Philippine contingent to arrive in Tokyo, Japan Saturday for the upcoming Olympics set to officially fire off July 23.
Boxers Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam and Irish Magno, along with coach Nolito Velasco, Elmer Pamisa and Reynaldo Garrido, and team consultant Donald Abnett arrived from their training camp in Thailand while Eumir Felix Marcial and coach Ronald Chavez landed on a separate flight coming from the United States exactly one week before their scheduled fights.
Rower Cris Nievarez, coach Ed Maerina and rowing official Magnun Membrere have also arrived from Manila.
Barring any changes, the bulk of the 19-man PH team will arrive Sunday to usher their quest of winning the country’s first Olympic gold medal.
Among those are weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who will come from her training camp in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, swimmers Remedy Rule and Luke Gebbie from Texas, United States and Melbourne, Australia, respectively.
Weightlifter Elreen Ando, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa and shooter Jayson Valdez will also come from Manila, while pole vaulter EJ Obiena and golfer Juvic Pagunsan are scheduled to arrive on opening day.
Gymnast Carlos Yulo and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe are based in Japan and will enter the Athletes’ Village on Sunday.
Golfers Yuka Saso and Bianca Pagdanangan, as well as skateboarder Margielyn Didal will arrive a few days before their events. Golf is set Aug. 4 to 7, and skateboarding street event on July 26.
All participants at the Tokyo Olympics—athletes, coaches, officials, media, and dignitaries, among others—are obliged to undergo two (96 and 72 hours before arrival) RT-PCR tests before leaving their respective countries. Everyone will be subjected to Antigen tests upon arrival at the Japanese airports.