Para bets win 5 golds in chess

MANILA, Philippines — Overcoming personal tragedies, the amazing Filipino woodpushers saved the day yet again for the Philippine team after raking in five gold medals in the rapid event of the Hangzhou Asian Para Games yesterday.

Henry Lopez, 43, topped the men’s individual rapid P1 as well as the team event with FIDE Master Sander Severino and Jasper Rom to account for the country’s magnificent five-gold rampage in the sport.

Cheyzer Mendoza, a lawyer, reigned supreme in the women’s individual P1 while Darry Bernardo ruled the men’s individual along with the team rapid B2-B3 with Menandro Redor and Arman Subaste.

In all, the mighty Pinoy chessers, the kings and queens of the ASEAN Para Games, harvested eight mints after Redor and his team and Mendoza triumphed in the standard competition days ago.

They surpassed the five gold they won in the last edition of the quadrennial meet in Jakarta, Indonesia five years ago.

And thanks to them, the country now has 10 golds that replicated its haul of 10 in Jakarta.

Its other victories came from swimming thanks to Ernie Gawilan and center piece athletics courtesy of wheelchair racer Jerold Mangliwan.

This they did despite some mishaps along the way.

“The most challenging Asian Para Games we’ve been to. Aside from Sander (Severino) having an injury less than a month before the games, Master Jasper Rom’s parents died last week, yet he chose to play for our flag,” Lopez, a proud Panabo, Davo del Norte native, told The STAR.

“Naaksidente, nalaglag sa wheelchair at na fracture left foot, naitukod sa butas ng manhole,” he added referring to the misfortunes of Severino, who is already suffering from muscle dystrophy since childhood.

That explained Severino’s catastrophic collapse in the men’s standard event where he had a chance to strike a pair of gold but just couldn’t.

And yet, the likes of Severino and Rom plodded on.

For flag and country.