Carbonel sets record in Para Games

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand — A blind masseur ruled the men’s discus throw yesterday as the Philippines won three gold medals at the start of the fourth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Para Games at the His Majesty The King’s 80th Anniversary Stadium here.

Ranged against bigger, heftier foes, Evaristo Carbonel, 34, heaved the discus to 26.63 meters on the second of six attempts, pocketing the gold and eclipsing the 24.88 mark Thai Sanguan Chanaman  set in the 2005 Manila Para Games.

“I was surprised I won because my coach said they’re bigger, taller than me,” said Carbonel, who lost his eyesight in an air gun accident 16 years ago.

“I dedicate this victory to my countrymen and to my kids Lemuel, Iris, Tintin and Shenling. They’re my inspiration,” added the masseur from Punta, Sta. Ana in Manila as he stood tall during the awarding ceremony.

Later in the day, Enano Paz gave the Philippines its second gold after she topped the 100m T54 class in 19.44 seconds. Filipinos also won two silvers and a bronze in athletics in the opening day.

The silver medals came from Ruth Maragrac in the 100m T53 class and Jeanette Acebeda in the discus throw F12 category.

The third gold for the Filipinos were delivered by Minnie de Ramos and Josephine Medina in the women’s doubles open class in table tennis.

De Ramos and Pablo Catalan later on won the silver in mixed doubles, losing to Indonesians Rosyid Choirur and Suwatri Suwatri, 8-11, 8-11, 9-11, 11-6, 4-11, in the finals of the Open class.

Tankers Daniel Damaso and Arnel Aba, who won the only two swimming golds for RP in 2005, snared a silver medal each in the 400m S9 and S12 events, respectively.

Damaso clocked 5 minutes, 34.39 seconds and finished behind Thai Tupsit Kumoongkoong’s 5:14.78 while Aba timed 5:21.85 to trail Vietnamese Uo Huynh Anh Khoa’s 5:13.30.

It was a good start for the two Filipino swimmers who have yet to see action in their favorite events, the 200m freestyle for Damaso and the 200m backstroke for Aba.

At presstime last night, the Philippines was in fifth with three gold, five silver and two bronze medals. Host Thailand looked headed for its third straight overall championship with an opening day 33-16-16 harvest.

Catalan and De Ramos looked spent following a marathon 11-2, 12-10, 9-11, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4 semifinal triumph over Thailand’s Rungroj Thainiyom and Pattama Tawongsar while Choirur and Suwatri needed just five sets in disposing of Vietnam’s Ngoe Trung Mai and Nguyen Thi Hao, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-6, 12-10, in the other semis duel.

“We tried our best but they have more energy left,” said De Ramos, a 33-year-old Manila double gold medalist  who lost her right arm to a freak accident at age six.

Table tennis bets Jesam Omar and Purification Mingarine crashed out of the quarterfinals after a 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11 loss to Thainiyom and Tawongsar while Benedict Gaela and Josephine Medina suffered the same fate at the hands of Ngoe and Nguyen, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13 in the same section.

Earlier, Michael Mora, the reigning champion and record holder in shotput, failed to duplicate his performance in Manila after he settled for a bronze medal in the intellectually challenged category with a distance of 9.43m.

Mora, who will turn 26 on Feb. 3, however, is as happy as winning the gold.

“I’m so happy to win a bronze medal. I dedicate this to my mother, Betty,” said Mora, a resident of Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

Malaysian Yusuf Mohd Azian unseated Mora with a new Para Games record of 10.86m while countryman Dahlan Mohd Farhan finished second with 10.07m.

Cherrie Pinpin won the bronze in the 10m air rifle standing women’s SH1 class by firing a total of 336, a shade behind Thais Parichat Makboontham’s 379 and Supanya Kadmai’s 341.

In chess, over at the Surasummanarkaen Hotel, Sander Severino and Henry Lopez led two other Filipinos with victories over Brunei’s Haji Noorkaseh and Indonesia’s Taufiq Hidayat, respectively.

Joining Severino and Lopez at the helm of the wheelchair/ambulant division were Alexis Elinon, who smashed Hea Ho of Malaysia, and Joven Malig, who trounced Eddy Lee of Malaysia.

In the men’s visually impaired category, RP’s Rodolfo Sarmiento and Abraham Peligro likewise jumpstarted their gold medal bids with triumphs over Hung M. of Vietnam and RP’s Francis Ching, respectively.

Another Filipino, Cecilio Bilog, settled for a draw with Pham L. of Vietnam to also stay in contention.

Maritess Burce, for her part, gave it her best in javelin’s F55 class for the wheelchair-bound athletes but couldn’t keep up with the raw power of Malaysian Lew King Kiew.

Lew took the gold with a throw of 10.76m as against Burce’s 10.48, which was good for a silver medal but wasn’t counted in the medal tally since only two of them were entered in the event.

In Boccia, Marilou Deniega and Anna Leda dropped their first preliminary round matches to Malaysian Lean Chin Kit, 1-9, and Singaporean Goh Ta Lang, 1-10, respectively.

Deniega and Leda need to win over Thai Pattaya Tadtong and Malaysian Lee Suin Tein, respectively, to remain in medal contention.