Pinay athletes get into Paris action as Catantan, Villegas, three gymnasts open their Olympics bids

Several Filipina athletes will plunge into 2024 Paris Olympics action as Sam Catantan, Aira Villegas, Aleah Finnegan, Emma Malabuyo, and Levi Jung-Ruivivar will set into motion their respective campaigns.

Filipina fencing ace Catantan will see action in the Table of 64 in the women's individual foil event where she will take on Brazilian bet Mariana Pistoia at 3:30 p.m. (Philippine time) at the Grand Palais in Paris.

The winner of this match will advance to the Table of 32 where Italian veteran Arianna Errigo is already awaiting after earning a bye in the first round.

Catantan's Olympic opener will coincide with Filipina rower Joanie Delgaco's race in the women's single sculls repechage set at 3 p.m. at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. Delgaco, who fell just short of an outright playoffs ticket yesterday, will need to finish within the top two to advance to the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, gymnasts Finnegan, Malabuyo, and Jung-Ruivivar will also begin their campaign in the women's artistic gymnastics qualification round at 8:50 p.m. at the Bercy Arena.

The troika are all included in Subdivision 3 and will look to build on the momentum of fellow gymnast Carlos Yulo, who advanced to the medal rounds of all-around, floor, and vault earlier today. Similar to the men's division, the women's division will only advance the top 24 athletes in the all-around and top 8 from each apparatus with a limit of two athletes per national athletic committee (NOC).

Closing the day will be boxer Villegas, who was drawn in Round of 32 of the women's 50kg division and will slug it out against Yasmine Mouttaki of Morocco at 3:20 a.m. (July 29 in Philippines) at the North Paris Arena.

Villegas, one of the five Filipino boxers seeing action in the Summer Games, will look to get past Mouttaki for the right to face second-seeded Roumaysa Boualam of Algeria in the Round of 16.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News