SURAKARTA – After a rush of eight golds overnight, Filipino para-athletes struggled Wednesday, mustering a lone gold courtesy of thrower Cendy Asusano in the women’s shot put F54 in the morning action of the 11th Asean Para Games at the Manahan Stadium here.
Disqualified in the discus throw last Tuesday due to a loose strap on the throwing chair, Asusano came back strong and won the gold with a new personal best of 5.65 meters on her fourth try, surpassing her old mark of 5.50 meters in the 2017 Malaysian edition of the sportsfest.
It was the Pasig-based athlete’s second medal out of three events after handily winning the javelin throw in the opening day of action of the 11-nation showcase for the best para-athletes in the region.
“Nabawi ko po yong DQ ko kahapon ng Martes. Kinalimutan ko po para hindi ma-stress. Praise God at nanalo naman po (I bounced back from my disqualification on Tuesday. I just play focus to avoid stress. Praise God that I won),” added Asusano, who had swept all of her three events in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur five years ago.
In 5x5 men’s wheelchair basketball at the GOR Sritex Arena, the Philippines rode a big first half to whip Indonesia 61-30 to set up another showdown for the gold with Thailand on Friday.
Banking on their bench depth, the Filipino cagers outscored the hosts 34-14 in the first two quarters in rolling two their second win in three games in the single-round series.
Based on the records compiled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Paralympic Committee, the Pinoy campaigners now had a total of 14 gold, 13 silver, and 29 bronze medals for an unofficial tally of fourth overall in the medal standings.
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 PSC.
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.
Arman Dino added a silver medal in the afternoon by placing second in the men’s 400-meter T46 race.
Contributing bronze medals in para athletics were King James Reyes, Andy Avellana and Marites Burce in the men’s 1,500-meter T46 race, men's High Jump T42/T63 event, and women’s shot put F54. respectively.
Table tennis also delivered a bronze through the Class 10 mixed doubles tandem of Pablo Catalan Jr. and Minnie Cadag, who took a 6-11, 8-11, 4-11 loss to Indonesia’s Komet Akbar and Aminah in the semifinals.
They added two more bronzes in the Men's Doubles Class 9 later in the afternoon courtesy of Benedict Gaela and Andrew Kevin Arandia and Pablo Catalan Jr. and Linard Sultan.
Judo also gave the country two bronze medals courtesy of Deterson Omas in the Men’s J1 -60 kg class and Russel Cundangan in the Women's J1-J2 +57kg category. (PR)
