PH para athletes show worth

PRIOR to the recently-concluded 3rd Asian ParaGames in Indonesia, I really thought that our para athletes will do much better in their performance but definitely they exceeded expectations with their medal production and overall standing.

For the record, the PH Asian ParaGames delegation brought home a total of 10 gold, 8 silver and 11 bronze medals, good for 11th place overall compared to the 5 silver and 5 bronze medals we had in Incheon, South Korea in 2014 and we could not even get into the top 20. And we can even compare that to the 3 gold medals we won at the last Asian Games.

I was at the sendoff party for the PH para athletes and got a chance to talk to some athletes and coaches and all of them were saying that this was the best prepared team compared to the previous ones because of the continuous support that the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) gave to the athletes. The other factor that positively affected the performance of the athletes was the way chef de mission Kiko Diaz did his job as he showed himself at the different venues during the competition.

In fact, in a meeting with Philippine Paralympics Committee (PPC) vice president Tom Carrasco, he opined that Kiko should be reappointed to the same position as he was able to exert a positive influence on the athletes. And I do not see any reason why it should not be done as we should reward people who deliver on their jobs and replace those who just talk but fail to deliver in the end.

Giving credit where credit is due, the top performer for the delegation was amputee swimmer Ernie Gawilan with his 3 gold medals in the men’s 200m individual medley, 100m backstroke and 400m freestyle to go with his 2 silver medals in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle assuring himself of a a real Merry Christmas with the incentives that he will receive for his medal production.

Tom also told me that it was suggested to Pato Gregorio for the MVP Sports Foundation to add to the incentives too and the Go for Gold program should also recognize Gawilan’s outstanding achievement.

Chess, however, was the top gold producer with 5 medals coming from the men’s team standard P1, men’s team standard V1 B2/B3, men’s team rapid P1, men’s individual standard P1 and men’s individual rapid P1 with Sander Severino, who also shared the gold in two team events for his total of two individual and two team golds.

Kim Ian Chi struck for gold in tenpin bowling while cycling contributed the 10th gold with Arthus Bucay winning in the men’s C5 4000m individual pursuit event.

With this development, more companies will be willing to chip in and give sponsorship to athletes with disabilities. But I just hope that even those who have yet to win medals in international competitions should receive support from the PSC. Call it self interest but for paratriathlon, our athletes still do not get regular funding support because they have not yet delivered in international events.

But then how can they deliver if they will just be allowed to train on their own using what ever resources they have and from some kind hearted people who are willing to support them. I head the Philippine Paratriathlon Committee (PPTC) under the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) and this is our dilemma: it is difficult to convince disabled athletes to go into sports, what more to go into paratriathlon where they need to do three different sports?

I am still hoping though that by next year, we would have already received support from some individuals and companies for our paratriathletes. They can deliver podium finishes like these other PWDs in the Asian ParaGames in Indonesia come the ASEAN ParaGames on January 2020 but we need to convince them to remain in training for next year.

Anyway, congratulations again to our para athletes for their impressive performance in Indonesia.