Hopes high for Team Phlilippines in Asian Para Games

MANILA, Philippines — Team Philippines leaves for Jakarta on Monday, ready to do battle against the best in the region and shoot for a first-ever gold in third Asian Para Games firing off Oct. 8.

Josephine Medina of table tennis, powerlifter Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta and FIDE Master Sander Severino banner the Phl’s bid in the 11-day event where the Filipinos hope to improve on their five-silver, five-bronze medal finish in Incheon, South Korea four years ago.

“Hopefully, we get our first gold medal in the Asian Para Games, this is something that all the athletes aspire for,” said Phl chef de mission Kiko Diaz in yesterday’s lunch and mass hosted by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Phl Para Olympic Committee and Philspada at the Kamayan Edsa.

“I really can’t tell in terms of number but the commitment is to improve on that medal haul in Incheon, which is five silvers and five bronzes,” he added.

Others gracing the event were Phl Para Olympic Committee president Tom Carrasco, Philspada head Mike Barredo, Phl Sports commissioners Arnold Agustin and Charles Maxey and Phl Sports Institute director and special assistant to PSC chair Butch Ramirez Marc Velasco.

Medina is one of the paddlers tipped to contend for the gold, having snared a silver medal in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janerio, Brazil while Dumapong-Ancheta bagged a silver in the last staging of the quadrennial games.

Severino is also expected to figure prominently in the gold medal hunt in chess.

“As an athlete, we always go out there not just to compete but to win,” said the 44-year-old Dumapong-Ancheta, who is playing her last Asian Para Games after seeing action in the first two Para Asiad in Guangzhou, China and Incheon.

Diaz said the government and some private sectors have poured all the support for the Filipino athletes’ campaign.

“The government support improved a lot. The grant that the PSC gave to this bunch of athletes is really astronomical in terms of figure. And we’re hoping it will translate to our goal, which is to win at least a gold,” said Diaz.

A gold medal feat is worth P1 million while P500,000 and P200,000 are the government’s incentives for silver and bronze medals.

The Filipinos placed fifth in the ninth ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last year that saw them bag 20 golds, 20 silvers and 24 bronzes, the most the Phl has won in the biennial event in a long while.

Nine of them came in athletics where teenage sprint phenom Cielo Honasan and thrower Cendy Asusano emerged triple-double gold winners.

Honasan, 17, completed a sprint treble by reigning supreme in the 100m, 200m and 400m for T44/46 athletes but she was declared ineligible and will not join the team while the 27-year-old, wheelchair-bound Asusano topped shot put, discus throw and javelin for F54/55.

The Phl has entered in swimming (five), archery (two), athletics (nine), badminton (three), chess (12), cycling (two), judo (three), powerlifting (five), table tennis (six) and tenpin bowling (10).