Philippine Para Dancesport Team makes waves in Polish Open

CEBU, Philippines —  The Philippine Para Dancesport Team grabbed the limelight after it hauled a total of 19 medals broken down into seven golds, four silvers and eight bronzes in the Polish Para Dance Sport Open 2021, a world qualifying tournament held last October 8-10 in Lomianki, Poland.

 Edelyn de Asis shined the brightest among Phl’s bets with four gold medals in three single and one duo categories.

De Asis, who wowed the crowd and the adjudicators as well with her graceful moves and stunning routines, outperformed 2019 world champion Olena Chynka of Ukraine in both the women’s single freestyle 2 and single conventional 2 events.  

It was a complete domination for De Asis in the single events as she also bagged gold in the rising junior competition.

She claimed her fourth gold in the doubles freestyle 2 with partner Julius Obero. Their countrymen Anne Charlaine Santos and Christian Apolinario took the bronze in the same class. Apolinario added silver in combi Latin class 1 together with Jhistine Gylde Baguio.

“Hindi ko akalain na ganun ang pagtanggap ng mga hurado sa mga bagong mukha natin. Seguro dahil talagang inaabangan nila ang mga produkto ng Pilipinas, yung mga atleta na alam nila na matindi ang mga trainings sa Pilipinas. So ganun tayo kahinahangaan dito,” said Phl Para Dancesport Team head coach Genice “Bong” Marquez in an interview by PTV Sports.

On the other hand, Cebuana dance athlete Rhea Marquez from Barangay San Isidro, Talisay City and her longtime partner Julius Obero dished out a golden double in leading Team Phl to a clean sweep in both the combi latin class 2 and freestyle combi class 2.

De Asis and Shaquille Hanz Basan ran away with the silver and Anne Charlaine Santos and Jed Villaruel had the bronze in the combi latin class 2, while Jhona Pena and Felimon Baguio II settled for silver and the Santos-Villaruel tandem got the bronze in freestyle combi class 2.

Team Phl plucked its seventh gold in the doubles standard class 2 behind the efforts of Jhona Pena and Joey Maglasang, who also snatched bronze in the solo men’s class 2 freestyle.

For their monumental feat, they are all qualified to carry the country’s tri-colors in the 2021 World Para Dance Sport Championships slated on November 26-28 in Ulsan, South Korea.

“Plano ko para sa Para Dancesport Team ay mas gagalingan pa, mas konkretong plano para pagdating nang araw as in matibay, mas matibay pa tayo,” assured coach Bong Marquez.