Manila, Philippines, July 9, 2021: The Philippine Olympic Committee has announced that pole vault star EJ Obiena and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe will be Team Philippines' official flagbearers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games opening ceremony on July 23.
Obiena, who trains in Italy, is a medal hopeful in pole vault following a promising season around Europe and will be given the honour of carrying the Philippines flag in the new Olympic Stadium along with Watanabe.
The Philippines has never won a gold medal at the Olympics but has several chances in Tokyo through weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, Rio 2016 silver medallist and 2018 Asian Games champion, world champion gymnast in men’s floor exercise Caloy Yulo, Asian Games 2018 individual and team gold medallist and US Women’s Open 2021 golf champion Yuka Saso and boxer Eumir Felix Marcial.
The SEA Games champions from 2019 will be represented by 19 athletes in Tokyo, including Asian Games 2018 women’s street skateboarding champion Margielyn Didal and women’s team golf champion Bianca Pagdanganan.
