PSC vows total support for Para Games

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Sports Commission will give its all-out support to the Philippine Para team eyeing qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

“You just dream big and train hard and we’ll take care of the rest,” said PSC commissioner Arnold Agustin in a lunch he hosted for the medalists of the national squad that finished 11th overall in the third Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

“We know that 2019 will be the year for you to qualify in the Tokyo Paralympics. You should submit your program to us as early as you can so that we can prepare whatever you need to achieve our dream of a first Paralympic gold,” he added.

Hopes are high for the Phl Para team to strike its first ever Paralympic gold after a historic performance in the quadrennial games where the Filipinos raked in a record 10 gold medals on top of eight silvers and 11 bronzes.

This early, tanker Ernie Gawilan, born with no feet and an incomplete hand, emerged as the country’s best hope for that elusive gold after he harvested three gold medals including a record-breaking swim in the men’s 400-meter freestyle S7 (6-7) apart from a pair of silvers.

Arthus Bucay has also set his sights on making it to Tokyo after he topped the individual pursuit 4000m and snared a bronze in the individual time trial in Jakarta.

Apart from Gawilan and Bucay, table tennis’ Josephine Medina and powerlifter Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta are also legitimate candidates to win a gold in the Olympics of Para Sports.

Medina took a silver in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janerio, Brazil, the highest medal won by a Filipino in the quadrennial event, while Dumapong-Ancheta was the first Filipina to cop a Paralympic medal,  a bronze,  in Sydney, Australia in 2000 although she managed just a bronze in the Jakarta Asian Paragames.

Unfortunately, chess, which has delivered five golds including four from FIDE Master Sander Severino, two silvers and six bronzes, isn’t part of the Tokyo calendar.

“Our unexpected performance in Jakarta gave us hope that we may also do good in the Paralympics. Hopefully, with the proper support and training, we’ll be able to win our very first gold medal there,” said Phl Paralympic Committee president Mike Barredo.