Pinoys cap best ever Para Games finish

KUALA LUMPUR – The swimming team claimed two more gold medals as the differently-abled Filipino athletes surpassed their gold medal output two years ago in the fifth Southeast Asian Para Games which ended yesterday at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil here.

Arnel Aba and Bea Roble won their second gold medal each after dominating respective events to cap the RP swimmers’ sterling performance of seven gold medals anchored on the three-gold medal finish of 18-year-old Ernie Gawilan who humbled Malaysian ace David Wang Yu.

“He is our newest discovery. This Para Games is just a testing ground for his stint in the first Asian Youth Paralympic Games this September,” swimming coach Tony Ong said.

With the swimming’s improved finish as well as athletics and chess teams with eight and six golds each, the Team Philippines, bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), captured a total of 23 gold, 24 silver and 27 bronze medals in the 11-nation sports meet for athletes with disabilities.

The performance of the 64 Filipino athletes bettered the 17 golds, 21 silvers and 22 bronzes in 2007 Thailand meet and even has surpassed the country’s 22-gold output in 2005 Manila Games.

“It’s one of our objectives that everybody comes home with a medal. I think two teams were able to do it in chess and swimming,” RP chief de mission Ral Rosario said.

Despite their best ever gold medal harvest since the first Asean Para Games here in 2001, the Filipinos still settled for fifth place behind powerhouse Thailand (148-67-46), Malaysia (82-74-56), Vietnam (66-50-40) and Indonesia (26-21-14).