The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) announced boxer Aira Villegas and weightlifter Albert Ian Delos Santos will be the Philippines’ flagbearers at the opening ceremony of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. POC President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino made the announcement during the send-off ceremony on Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
“Si Ian Delos Santos ‘yung male [flagbearer] being the world champion at madami siyang world record. Sa female, I mean from the Olympian boxer, si Aira [Villegas],” Tolentino said in his speech, where he also explained how the POC arrived at the decision to tap Villegas and Delos Santos for such a supreme honor.
According to Tolentino, some athletes in the running for flagbearer duties had to be stricken off because they already had games scheduled. Others, meanwhile, were in Tokyo, and it would have meant a two-hour travel time to and from the venue of the opening ceremony. Tolentino also said that tennis sensation Alex Eala was an early and obvious choice but had to be scratched off as she will be arriving straight from the Singapore Open.
“Kausap ko siya [Alex] kanina, pati ‘yung tatay eh. Kailangan niya magpahinga after Singapore [Open]. After Singapore, kailangan niya ng rest to focus. Hindi pa siya nakakapag-gold sa Asian Games,” he said.
Why Aira Villegas and Albert Ian Delos Santos?
Regardless, Aira Villegas and Albert Ian Delos Santos are excellent choices to carry the Philippine flag in the opening. Villegas has done the country proud a couple of times already, bagging bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics and earning a silver medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games. She is also a potential candidate to give the Philippines a podium finish in boxing—perhaps even a gold that will end the boxing team’s 16-year drought.
“It is one of the greatest honors of my life to be chosen as a flag bearer for the Philippines at the 20th Asian Games. To carry our flag is to carry the hopes, dreams, sacrifices, and prayers of an entire nation,” Villegas said in a statement. “Ang bandila natin ay sumisimbolo sa bawat Pilipinong lumalaban sa kabila ng hirap, sa bawat atleta na tahimik na nagsasakripisyo para sa pangarap, sa bawat pamilyang walang sawang sumusuporta, at sa bawat batang Pilipino na naniniwalang walang imposible kapag may pangarap at tiyaga.”
Delos Santos, on the other hand, is fast making a name for himself as the Hidilyn Diaz of the men’s division, having won gold and setting records at the IWF Junior World Championships and Asian Junior Championships, and claiming silver in his first SEA Games. Like Villegas, the young Delos Santos could be in line for a podium finish if his current form continues.
Aira Villegas and Albert Ian Delos Santos will lead the 464-strong Philippine delegation in the opening ceremony of the 20th Asian Games, which will take place on September 19 at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, Japan.
