KUALA LUMPUR—Sprinter Cielo Honasan ruled the track in dominating fashion to highlight a two-gold haul by the country on Tuesday in the 9th Asean Para Games here.
“My dream is to compete and win here and I’m glad I got the chance to fulfill it,” said the 15-year-old Honasan, who ruled the 200m T44 in 28.51 seconds, besting Indonesian Karisma Evi Tiarani and Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thuy at Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
Tiarani and Nguyen timed in 31.12 and 33.07 to settle for the silver and bronze, respectively.
And she isn’t even done yet.
Honasan shoots for a sprint treble as she competes in the century dash on Wednesday and the 400m on Thursday.
“That’s also my goal, to win three gold medals here,” said the native of Santiago, Botolan, Zambales.
Elsewhere in this Malaysian capital, bowler Christopher Chiu Yue added yet another golden performance that hiked the country’s total gold medals to three.
Yue scored 1239 to beat Malaysians Mohd Azrin Bin Rahim’s 1216 and Abu Bakat Bin Nyat’s 1211 and bag the tenpin bowling gold at Bandar Sunway in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Team Philippines got its first gold via Cendy Asusano, who ruled the javelin for F54 and F55 combined by heaving 13.04 meters on Monday night.
Honasan knew she would win the moment she ran the heats, where she emerged with the fastest time of 28.55, or some three seconds ahead of her closest pursuers.
She didn’t disappoint in the finals.
The country also picked up two silver medals at the track courtesy of Jeanette Aceveda in shotput for F11 and F12 combined, and Arman Dino in the 400m for T47.
Dino’s silver shone like gold as he beat Indonesian Marthin Losu and Thai Yamee Sutat, the gold and silver medalists in the 2015 Singapore staging.
Dino clocked 52.77 while Sutat took the bronze in 53.38 and Losu ended up fourth in 53.75.
He didn’t expect Indonesian Nur Ferry Pradana, a rookie in this biennial meet for differently abled athletes, to come out of nowhere to snatch the victory in 50.49.
Claire Calizo, who copped a bronze in the 100m freestyle the day before, added a silver in swimming’s 200m freestyle for S14 with a time of 2:44.81, finishing behind eventual winner Daielle Moi Yan Ting of Singapore, who checked in at 2:29.89.