Cielo queen of tracks; chessers add 3 golds

KUALA LUMPUR —   Cielo Honasan ruled the century dash to complete a sprint double while the chess team, led by Sander Severino, delivered as promise with three golds in the ninth ASEAN Para Games here yesterday.

With another trackster and a cyclist topping their respective events and swimming bagging two gold medals, Team Philippines moved to fifth from seventh in the overall standings with an 11-12-11 (gold-silver-bronze) haul.

Indonesia stayed on top with a 57-39-28 tally while host Malaysia was at No. 2 with a 48-41-35 haul.

Over at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Honasan, a 15-year-old Zambales City native, clocked 13.06 seconds to win the 100m dash gold for T44 and emerge the Games’ sprint queen. She took the 200m dash gold Monday night.

Honasan will shoot for a sprint treble as she vies in the 400m run today.

The 32-year-old Severino, who suffered muscular dystrophy in childhood, split the point with Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Tuan to cop the individual standard gold for the physically impaired. He also anchored the Phl to the team gold.

Menandro Redor, the country’s flag-bearer, Arman Subastre and Israel Peligro, on the other hand, snared the B2/B3 (partial blindness) team gold.

Redor, however, lost the individual gold to Gayu Satrio of Indonesia.

Redor and Satrio actually tied for first with five points but the latter won on tiebreaks after beating the former in the fourth round.

Initially, organizers have declared Redor champion after using a different tiebreak system as agreed upon before the tournament.

But the Filipinos admitted the mistake and informed the Malaysians that Satrio, not Redor, is the rightful winner.

“If we’re going to win, we want it to be fair and square,” said Phl chess coach James Infiesto.

Severino, a FIDE Master who hails from Silay City, Negros Occidental. and his squad will aim for two more golds in the two-day rapid play beginning today.

Prudencia Panaligan also came through with a gold in the 100m for T52/53/54 with a clocking of 18.32 seconds, edging Thai Chainet Srithong (18.67) and Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Xuan Anh (18.78).

Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino also struck in swimming, winning the 400m freestyle for S8 and S7, respectively.

Gawilan, 26, timed 4:57.49, beating Vietnam’s Dag Van Cong (5:56.09) and Thailand’s Phiphatphong Sianglam (5:59.94). But he fell way behind in the 100m fly which Malaysian Tien Yu James Wong topped in 1:12.94. Gawilan checked in at 1:19.86.

Bejino, on the other hand, clocked 5:33.81, almost half a minute ahead of Kaweewat Sittichaiphonniti (6:02.26).

Roland Sabido copped a silver in the 400m free for S9 in 5:15.66 behind winner Jendi Pangabean of Indonesia, who had a 4:58.35 clocking.

Over at the Dataran Putrajaya track, Arthus Bucay finally secured the gold after two silver medal finishes, topping the men’s individual time trial for C5 with a time of 17:44.186. He bested Malaysia’s Zuhairie Bin Ahmad Tarmzi and Indonesia’s Sufyan Saori, who took the silver and bronze in 19:11.953 and 19:38.150, respectively.

Bucay, a 36-year-old Marikina-based Paralympian, earlier finished second in the one-kilometer track and 4000 individual pursuit.

Godfrey Taberna ended up with a bronze in the ITT for C4 as he clocked 18:47.586 behind Malaysian Mohd Najib Bin Turano’s 17:56.306 and Indonesian Muhammad Fadli Imammuddin’s 18:16.930.

Also in athletics, Joel Balatucan took the bronze in shotput for F54/F55.

Balatucan, classified as F55, actually emerged with the best throw of 8.55m but Myanmar’s Aug Khum and Malaysia’s Jap Soon Hung, who are classified as F54s, claimed the gold and silver with 7.51m and 7.50m, respectively, due to “Raza System” implemented by organizers for events that have combined two classes.

Had F54 and F55 were held as separate divisions, Balatucan would have won the gold.