PH Para athletes look to Paris Paralympics after strong Asian Games stint

Filipino para athletes brought home a rich treasure trove of medals from the Asian Para Games a few months back, setting up a promising stage toward the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.

Multiple medal winners Ernie Gawilan of swimming, wheelchair racing’s Jerrold Mangliwan and swimmer Gary Bejino are now looking in that direction after receiving their cash incentives from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself at the Malacanang Palace on Wednesday.

“To say that para athletes are a different breed and made of harder stuff is an understatement,’’ Marcos told the medalists of the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China in October last year.

“Most athletes push themselves to meet the Olympic standards of being faster, stronger. Para athletes have to unchain themselves from an even stronger restraint, so you can soar higher, hurdle bigger obstacles and crush more powerful burdens that weigh you down,’’ added Marcos.

The country’s para athletes garnered more medals than their able-bodied counterparts in the Asian Games with 10 golds, four silvers and five bronzes to wind up ninth overall out of 45 countries, the best finish of the nation in the continental meet.

Under the National Athletes and Coaches Benefits and Incentives Act, a gold medal in the Asian Para Games is worth P1 million, a silver possesses a value of P500,000 and a bronze is equivalent to P200,000.

Menandro Redor brought home three gold medals, fellow chessers Henry Roger Lopez, Cheyzer Mendoza, Darry Bernardo and Arman Subaste had two apiece while Sander Severino and Jasper Rom captured one each.

“These incentives and your recognition Mr. President and the kind attention can go a long way in further boosting the morale of our para athletes to do even better and hopefully at the Paralympic Games later this year,’’ said Philippine Paralympic Committee president Michael Barredo during the reward-giving ceremony at the Heroes Hall of the Palace.

Gawilan, hampered by an underdeveloped left limb and lacking both legs, ruled the men’s 400m freestyle S7 while Mangliwan, a Tokyo Paralympian along with Gawilan, grabbed the wheelchair racing gold in the men’s 400m T52.

The cash bonuses from the government were released through the Philippine Sports Commission, which celebrated its 34th founding anniversary on Wednesday, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.

“It is during these moments that I am reminded that 10 percent of our population are persons with disabilities and people with special needs and of our shared vision with the International Paralympic Committee to make for an inclusive Philippines through para sports,’’ said Barredo.

According to Barredo, the vice president of the Asian Paralympic Committee, the local paralympic body is still lobbying before Congress to increase the cash bonuses of para athletes at par with able-bodied athletes.

Filipino athletes at the Asian Games last year in Hangzhou, China collected four gold, two silver and 12 bronze medals where individual gold winners received P2,000,000 each. Silver medalists earned P1 million and bronze winners got P400,000.

Joining Marcos and Barredo in rewarding the para athletes were PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann and PSC Commissioners Olivia “Bong’’ Coo, Walter Torres and Edward Hayco.

Mangliwan added a silver in the men’s 100m T52 and Gawilan had a bronze in the men’s individual medley SM7.

“I wasn’t successful enough to win a medal in Tokyo (Paralympics). I hope to improve my clockings and qualify in Paris,’’ said Gawilan in Filipino, who won three gold medals in the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia.

This year’s Paralympics is set Aug. 28-Sept. 8 in the glitzy French capital less than three weeks after the Summer Olympics.

Fellow Tokyo Paralympian Gary Bejino claimed two bronzes in the men’s 100m and 400m freestyle S6 in Hangzhou.

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