HANGZHOU – National para swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino produced a pair of third-place finishes last Monday night for the country’s first medals at the start of the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games swimming championships at the Hangzhou Olympic Center Aquatic Arena.
Aiming to defend the first of three titles he won in the 2018 edition in Jakarta, Indonesia, the legless Gawilan clocked two minutes and 52.82 seconds in third behind two formidable Chinese foes, who both swam with one arm and two legs.
Huang Xianquan clocked 2:48.34 to pocket the gold while compatriot Yang Huaqiang (2:50.73) settled for silver in the event in front of a banner hometown crowd at the ultra-modern 6,000-seat facility.
A Tokyo Paralympic Games veteran like Gawilan, Bejino , who lost one arm and one leg after being electrocuted at a young age, also had to play third wheel behind two Chinese bets, copping the bronze with a time of 1:12. 76 in the men’s 100-meter freestyle S6 finals.
He was able to foil a possible 1-2-3 Chinese, relegating Tang Qian to fourth place by a touch (1:12.85) after Tang had beaten the Filipino earlier in the heats of the stint backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.
“Hindi ko man po na-depensa ang event ko, nagpapasalamat na rin ako na nakagbigay ako ng unang medalya muli sa bayan sa Asian Para Games,” said Gawilan, who hopes to recover in time for the heats of the men’s 400-freestyle Tuesday morning.
A bright spot was the national para chess team, which opened its campaign in the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games on a promising note Monday as the men’s and women’s PI (physically impaired) chessers won all of their three matches in the first round of the standard events.
Competing at the Hangzhou Qi-Yuan Chess Hall, FIDE Master Sander Severino led the way in beating Mongolia’s Sundui Sonom while Henry Roger Lopez and Jasper Rom beat Thailand’s Padu Srikpadee and Yoo Khoonme, respectively.
Cheyzer Cristal Mendoza bannered the women’s squad in outplaying Indonesia’s Yuni, Cheryl Angot beat Kyrgyzstan’s Dariaa Kuraidanarova and Jean Lee-Nacita topped China’s Zhang Yue on the distaff side. PR
