Parlaympic Committee calls for exclusive training facility

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Para team would need to have sports facilities exclusively for its use for it to be successful in the international front in the future.

Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) president Michael Barredo cited as an example China, which has a facility for its own national differently able athletes in Beijing.

“This is why the Chinese have been dominating the Paralympics since the 2004 edition in Athens,” said Barredo.

Truly, the Chinese have virtually claimed the overall championship with an impressive haul of 87-52-48 (gold-silver-bronze) with still a day to go before the quadrennial event concludes.

Barredo echoed the sentiment of national para coaches Joel Deriada (athletics) and Tony Ong (swimming) calling for government and the private sector to join forces in setting up a permanent and regular facility for the national para team.

“We already had a semblance of it at the ULTRA in Pasig City, but it was unfortunate that it was converted into a quarantine facility by the government, so we virtually lost a year’s training in 2020,” said Barredo.

Barredo also paid tribute to swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino and wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan for representing the country well amid the COVID-19 pandemic that prevented powerlifter Achele Guion, discus thrower Jeannette Aceveda and taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin from participating.

“I believe Ernie and Jerrold did pretty well while Gary is still a greenhorn who can strive to do better in future international competitions,” said Barredo.

Gawilan and Mangliwan both posted personal bests in the 400-meter freestule (S7) and 1,500m (T52), respectively.