MANILA – Six athletes will represent the Philippines in the World Para Powerlifting Championships from Aug. 21 to 30 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
This is one of the mandatory tournaments to qualify for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, France.
Marydol Pamati-an (41kg), Achelle “Jinky” Guion (45kg), Denesia Esnara (55kg), Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta (+ 86kg), Romeo Tayawa (54kg) and Gregorio Payat Jr. (58kg) make up the national team which includes coaches Rico Canlas and Daisy Lipasana.
Pamati-an, Esnara, Tayawa, Payat and Canlas are scheduled to leave on Friday afternoon while Guion, Dumapong-Ancheta and Lipasana will leave on Saturday.
“We’ll do our best,” said Dumapong-Ancheta, the first Filipino to win a medal at the Paralympic Games when she got the bronze in Sydney, Australia (2000).
Most of the athletes going to Dubai are medalists in the 12th ASEAN Para Games held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last June.
Pamati-an delivered one gold (total lift) and one silver (best lift). The native of Tagana-an, Surigao del Norte province also won bronze medals in Myanmar (2014), Singapore (2015), Malaysia (2017) and Indonesia (2022).
Guion of Sipalay, Negros Occidental province got two silver medals, duplicating her performance last year in Solo, Indonesia.
Dumapong-Ancheta of Kiangan, Ifugao province is a five-time ASEAN Para Games gold medalist. She bagged two silvers last year and two bronzes this year.
Tayawa of Kalinga province brought home two bronze medals while Esnara of La Trinidad, Benguet province won one bronze medal in the 2022 ASEAN Para Games. (PNA)