Documentary – The Philippine delegation during the opening ceremony of the 9th ASEAN Para Games on Sunday, September 17. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO / Janneth Tenorio
The country’s delegation to the 12th Southeast Asian Paralympic Games (APG) set the same goal as Team Philippines in the recent 32nd Southeast Asian Games.
Philippine Paralympic Committee President Michael Barredo speaks during a farewell ceremony for the 259-member delegation to the event that will take place from June 3 to June 9 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
And that seems to be the consensus of the Philippine team.
“Our goal is to surpass the medal record from the APG first,” said Commissioner Walter Torres of the Philippine Sports Commission and delegation leader.
At the Para Games hosted by Indonesia last year, the Philippines came in 5th place with 28 golds, 30 silvers and 46 bronzes out of a total of 104.
The country is striving to improve those numbers, relying on old trusted people to step up — for a reason.
“Our veteran athletes with disabilities in athletics, swimming and chess are stronger and motivated to do even better in preparation for the Asian Para Games. Asia in Hangzhou and the qualifiers leading up to the Paralympic Games in Paris next year,” said Torres.
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Last year’s gold medalist Ernie Gawilan will lead the swim team alongside triple APG gold medalists Ariel Alegarbes and Angel Otom as well as Tokyo Paralympic athletes Gary Bejino, Edwin Villanueva, Marco Tinamisan, Roland Sabido, Arnel Aba and Muhaimin Ulag.
“We are also looking at new teams, women’s rugby and men’s CP (cerebral palsy) football. They are making their debut with the ability to go to the podium,” said Torres.
“The whole process of supporting and motivating our athletes with disabilities is done,” says Barredo.
The 174 athletes participating in 12 regular sports and one performance event (Esports) is the largest Philippine team in APG’s history, potentially winning more gold medals than the season. before.
The top Filipino athletes with disabilities have been ranked in athletics (23), badminton (9), boccia (8), chess (22), cerebral palsy (10), handball (12), judo (4), weightlifting (11), seated volleyball (14), swimming (12), table tennis (21), wheelchair basketball (23) and eSports (5) .
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