MANILA, Philippines–Thrower Cendy Asusano returned on the field on Wednesday with a gold medal in the women’s shot put F54 at the 11th Asean Para Games in Surakarta, Indonesia following a disqualification in the discus throw a day earlier.
Asusano’s heave of 5.65 meters on the fourth attempt likewise erased her old mark of 5.50m in the previous edition of the meet in 2017 Kuala Lumpur.
It was the second gold medal for Asusano out of three events after topping the javelin throw on opening day of action featuring the finest para athletes from 11 countries.
Over at the Jatadiri Sports Complex in Semarang, swimmers Roland Sabido and Arnel Aba added silver and bronze medals, respectively, to the country’s collection in the stint backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Sabido was second in the men’s 100-meter backstroke S9 event in one minute, 15.820 seconds while Aba bagged the bronze medal in the men’s 100-meter butterfly stroke S9 event in 1:23.40.
But the Filipino swimmers hope to recover from their anemic showing today with 2017 Malaysian ASEAN Para Games gold medalist Gary Bejino, veteran Ernie Gawilan and Angel Otom expected to vie for gold Thursday.
Contributing bronze medals in athletics were King James Reyes and Andy Avellana in the men’s 1,500-meter T46 race and men’s high jump F11-13 event, respectively.
Table tennis likewise delivered a bronze through the Class 10 mixed doubles tandem of Pablo Catalan Jr. and Minnie Cagdag, who took a 6-11, 8-11, 4-11 loss to Indonesia’s Komet Akbar and Aminah in the semifinals.
Overnight, judo also gave the country its first medal in the sport courtesy of Peterson Onas in the men’s J1-60-kg. class.