CRIS Nievarez placed third in Heat 5 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games regatta at the Sea Forest Waterway.
The 21-year-old Nievarez made it to the next round as the top three rowers in each of the six heats of the men’s single sculls go to the quarterfinals.
Solid start for Team PH
Nievarez clocked seven minutes, 22.97 seconds in the heat won by 2016 silver medalist Damir Martin of Croatia, who timed 7:09.17.

The quarterfinals will be held on Monday.
Alexander Vyazovkin of the Russian Olympic Committee finished second in Heat 5 with 7:14.95.
The result is an auspicious start to Team Philippines’ campaign in this year’s Olympics, seen as the best chance to finally break the gold medal drought.
Nievarez was in third the whole race and kept its distance from Nicaragua’s Felix Potoy to end up with a 10-second gap after the heat.
Also advancing are Kjetic Borch of Norway, who had the best time in the heats with a clocking of 6:54.46, and Arakawa Ryuta of Japan, the only other Asian who clinched a spot in the quarterfinals.
Stefanos Ntouskos of Greece, Oliver Zeidler of Germany, Sverri Nielsen of Denmark, Abdelkhalek Elbana of Egypt, Trevor Jones of Canada, Bendeguz Petervari-Molnar of Hungary, Jordan Parry of New Zealand, Luca Verthein Ferreira of Brazil, Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania, Gennaro Alberto Di Mauro of Italy, Alvaro Torres Masias of Peru, Vladislav Yakovlev of Kazakhstan, and Onat Kazakli of Turkey also qualified in the quarterfinals.
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