PH para bets to get unique advantage

Seeking to duplicate the country’s feat in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) believes premium should be given on the training of Filipino para athletes for them to succeed on home turf.

The PSC immediately recognized the necessity of early preparations and opened the doors of the newly refurbished PhilSports Complex for the national para athletes to reach peak form in time for their version of the Games. “We want to duplicate the same success Team Philippines had in the SEA Games,’’ PSC Chair William Ramirez said.

Facilities inside the PhilSports Complex will be turned over to the organizers of the Games spearheaded by the Philippine Paralympic Committee under its president, Michael Barredo, a week or two before the March 20 opening cere­mony.

Ramirez likewise announced that New Clark City would soon allow bemedaled para swimmers Ernie Gawilan, Garry Bejino and the rest of the swimming team to train in the Class-1 Fina-certified pool inside the complex by the end of the month.

“We will give our full backing to the national para athletes set to compete during the Asean Para Games,’’ Ramirez said.

Over 1,500 para athletes from 11 countries will take part in the Asean Para Games on March 21-27 with host Philippines lining up more than 280 participants in 20 sports scheduled to be played in Subic, Clark and Metro Manila.

Thailand will bring in 317 para bets and Indonesia 306. They are the two countries that will give the Philippines a stiff challenge in the race for the overall title.

Team Philippines also had the biggest delegation in the SEA Games last month, and the Filipinos wasted no time in claiming the overall title, which they put in the bag with still a week left of competitions. The Filipinos bagged a total of 149 gold medals—an all-time record—in winning their second overall title in this region’s version of the Olympics.

Coming from winning just 23 gold medals when the Games were held in Kuala Lumpur in 2017, the Philippines batted for 56 total sports and made

a killing in dancesports and arnis.

The first overall championship took place in 2005, when the country also hosted the Games. INQ