In her first Olympics, Bianca Pagdanganan relishes representing Philippines

Bianca Pagdanganan, a golfer from Philippines, shows off a ball carrying Philippines flag on it, in Kasumigaseki Golf Club in Kawagoe city in Saitama prefecture, Japan, August 4, 2021. REUTERS/Ju-min Park

KAWAGOE, Japan–Filipino golfer Bianca Pagdanganan brought a box of balls embossed with the Philippine flag to the Tokyo Olympics and showed one off to her playing partners before whacking it off the first tee.

After shooting a 69 on Wednesday she told Reuters she would probably frame the ball.

“I love representing the Philippines during tournaments and (it’s) so much fun. There’s just so much pride in playing in this event,” she said.

The 23-year-old golf star briefly took the lead in round 1 and kept her pace to end the day tied for seventh place.

Pagdanganan is a double gold medalist for the Philippines in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and a winner of gold and bronze in the 2018 Asian Games.

She along with Yuka Saso are among the last Filipino bets competing in Tokyo, where the country so far has one gold and one silver medal haul with a couple of assured podium finishes in boxing. With reports from Celest Flores-Colina

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