Pinoy bets raring to go in Paragames

The 110 members of the Philippine contingent arrived in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday, all geared up for battle in the fourth Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Para Games set Jan. 20-26 in Nakhon Ratchasima.

RP delegation chief of mission Ral Rosario, a former swimming champion tanker who saw action in the 1974 Iran Asian Games, said the athletes are in high spirits and raring to compete against the region’s best.

From Bangkok, the RP contingent, including the 88 athletes competing in 12 sports disciplines and their coaches and trainers, will travel four hours by land to reach the main hub, the same venue where the bulk of the events in the 24th Southeast Asian Games were held.

“They’re all ready and raring to go,” said Rosario. “We haven’t encountered a single problem, everything’s okay so far.”

The main group will then join Philippine Sports Association for the Differently-Abled (Philspada) president Mike Barredo and deputy chief of  mission Noel Ascue, who arrived in Thailand earlier in the week.

Barredo, a former sports commissioner, attended the Executive Committee meeting Wednesday while Ascue, coach of the wheelchair basketball squad, represented RP in the Games and Liaisons Committee meeting Monday.

All the athletes will then go through the certification process to determine what events they would be entered to.