HANGZHOU – Veteran para swimmer Ernie Gawilan tries to break the golden ice for the country as the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games goes full blast Monday at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Complex and surrounding venues here.
Gawilan, 32, will plunge into action in the S7 men’s 200-meter individual medley at the modern 6,000-seat HOC Aquatic Arena at 7:29 p.m., just a stone’s throw away from the 80,000-capacity HOC Stadium where the colorful and festive opening ceremony was held Sunday night.
It will be the first of three events he will aim to defend after capturing three golds in the 2018 edition held in Jakarta, Indonesia in the stint backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.
“Kailangan kong madepensahan yung tatlong main event na naipanalo ko sa Jakarta Asian Games – sa 400-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley at 100-meter backstroke. Dun kami nag-concentrate,” said Gawilan on the eve of the meet.
Also seeing action in the swimming championships are Cambodia ASEAN Para Games double gold medalist Gary Bejino in the S6 men’s 100-meter freestyle, Edwin Villanueva in the SM8 men’s 200-meter individual medley, and Muhaimin Ulag in the SB9 men’s 100-meter breaststroke.
The vaunted national para chess team, which delivered five gold, two silver, and six bronze medals in the 2018 Asian Para Games, will also start competing in the men’s and women’s standard events at the Hangzhou Qi-Yuan Chess Hall on the fringe of the HOC Complex.
They are bannered by wheelchair-bound Fide Master Sander Severino, who bagged four golds in the Indonesian capital five years ago, and Darry Bernardo, who was the most prolific chesser in the last Cambodia ASEAN Para Games with six mints in June.
Powerlifting also gets underway at the Xiaoshan Sports Center Gymnasium with Romeo Tayawa and Marydol Pamatian vying in the men’s -54-kilogram and women’s -41kg divisions, respectively.
Thrower Jesebel Tordecilla, who won a silver in the Cambodia ASEAN Para Games, kicks off the country’s drive in track and field in F56 women’s javelin throw at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium about an hour away from the HOC Sports Complex.
“Our national para-athletes have been working and training hard for the 4th Asian Para Games for the last five years. Now is the time for them to shine in this continental sports showcase once again and I encourage our countrymen to pray and support them,” Philippine Paralympic Committee President Mike Barredo said.
“Lord willing, we hope to match or surpass our achievements in the last Asian Para Games in Indonesia,” Barredo, who is also a member of the Asian Paralympic Committee Executive Board, added. (ai/mnm)
HANGZHOU – Barring any unforeseen circumstance, Asia’s best pole vaulter and Filipino superstar Ernest John Obiena is expected to deliver the Philippines’ first gold medal in the 19th Asian Games here on Saturday.
Obiena, the overwhelming favorite to win the pole vault gold in the Asiad, is expected to obliterate the opposition in the event slated at 7:05 p.m. at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre.
“My aim is to win (in Hangzhou). That’s the goal,” said Obiena in a previous interview.
The 27-year-old Obiena, who regained the no. 2 rank in the world following his runner-up finish to world champion Arman “Mondo” Duplantis in the 2023 Diamond League in Eugene, Oregon almost two weeks ago, holds the Asian record of 6 meters, he twice achieved in Budapest last August and Norway last June.
Obiena, however, doesn’t own the Asian Games record. That distinction belongs to Japanese Seito Yamamoto, who leaped to a height of 5.75 meters during the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
The Filipino pole vaulter, who was recovering from an ACL injury at that time, placed only 7th in that edition as he struggled to find any rhythm of sorts. He went on to leap just 5.45 meters.
Obiena will be aiming for payback against the 31-year-old Yamamoto, who according to Japan Running News, will be having another tour of duty for Japan in the Asiad.
Yamamoto’s best showing this season, however, is just 5.60 he did in the L’Anneau-Halle d’athlétisme de Metz in France last February. Yamamoto plus three Chinese pole vaulters will be in the field.
“This is the opportunity for us Filipino athletes to show what we’ve got,” said Obiena, who will also have a chance to end a three-decade medal drought by the country in the Asiad, where the last medal from athletics was won by Elma Muros, who bagged the bronze in the women’s long jump event.
“We are determined to contribute to the Philippine Team’s campaign. Our men and women are ready,” said athletics secretary general and team manager Edward Kho.
The only minor concern for Obiena, if it’s a worry at all, is jet lag.
“EJ is recovering from jet lag after arriving a few days ago from a competition in Oregon, USA. But he is a veteran. He will do what he has to do come tomorrow night’s finals in the pole vault,” said athletics chief Terry Capistrano. (ai/mnm)
CHUN’AN, Zhejang, China — Daniel Patrick Caluag vies in cycling’s BMX Racing on Sunday, October 1, exactly the same day nine years ago when he won the country’s one and only gold medal at the Asian Games’ 17th edition in Incheon, South Korea.
“I remember it as if it was yesterday,” said Caluag on Friday after his second day of testing the track in this city situated 155 kms from the 19th Asian Games main hub of Hangzhou.
He was a young 27-year-old rider coming off his first Olympics in London 2012 and capturing gold at the 2013 Asian championships in Singapore — BMX racing is relatively new on the global stage having been accepted as a medal sport in the Olympics only in Beijing 2008.
“I was heading to my first Asian Games, just after the birth of my daughter, Sydney,” added Caluag, who for his Incheon success was named Athlete of the Year by the Philippine Sportswriters Association.
“I was young, motivated, and hungry for success, eager to be the best in BMX and to put the Philippines on the map,” he said.
On Sunday, he’ll be up against riders many of them a decade younger than him hoping to emerge champion on the Chun’an track — although all BMX tracks follow UCI regulations, no two tracks all over the world are the same.
Caluag flew in three days ago from the US where he works full time as a Registered Nurse like his wife and former coach Stephanie — they were frontliners during the pandemic with Caluag getting himself infected and quarantined for more than a month.
“Now, as I left for the 19th Asian Games, Sydney just turned nine,” he said. “I approach it with much more confidence and understanding.”
He added: “I have nothing and I have much to gain. I am truly blessed to be able to continue to do the thing I love — ride my BMX — at 36 years old, the oldest rider on the track.”
Caluag will be racing on Sunday with fellow Filipino-American, 23-year-old Patrick Coo, who made a name for himself two years ago by winning gold at the Asian championships.
Caluag recalls his experience in London in 2012.
“Heading to London to work with the esteemed Dr. Jason Richardson [former world champion and PanAm Games gold medalist], I was driven to put forth my very best effort,” he said. “While BMX was a fairly new sport to Asia, I was already considered one of the top athletes in the world in the sport. Knowing I had an advantage due to my years of experience, I was more relaxed heading into the Games.”
The start list has yet to be released by the competition organizers but Caluag said he feels relaxed ahead of the event.
“I am more relaxed going into these Games,” he said, adding “It’s hard to measure progress in a changing sport like this, but I am certain I have become older and wiser. In the gym, my numbers have been higher than back in 2012 which gives me hope that I can represent the Philippines with pride and success.”
Philippine Olympic Committee president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino agreed BMX in Asia has moved forward by leaps and bounds, but he remains confident Caluag could pull off another surprise — when nobody was looking, Caluag won that one and only gold in 2014.
“I was confident of a medal,” said Tolentino, also president of PhilCycling, of the Incheon experience, adding he felt the gold was achievable because Caluag had his brother CJ Caluag riding as his blocker.
But Tolentino knows how difficult winning in the Asian Games has become.
“Gold is rare in the Asian Games, especially with cycling discipline,” he said. “It is equivalent to blood being spilled during training.”
(ai/mnm)
HANGZHOU, China — Joanie Delgaco aims to make history when she competes in the final of the women’s single sculls event of the 19th Asian Games on Monday at the Fuyang Water Sports Center here.
Delgaco, 25, will be coming as an underdog in the race that starts at 9:10 a.m. as she battles a formidable cast of competitors bannered by a seasoned Uzbek who won the silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics last year.
Anna Prakaten, who was born in Bulgaria played for Russia and is now competing for Uzbekistan, is heavily favored after topping the semifinals in seven minutes and 47.88 seconds, way far from the 8:18.30 that Delgaco clocked to qualify in the medal round.
Also in the field are Shino Yonekawa of Japan, Liu Ruiqi of China, Leung Wing Wun of Hong Kong and Huang Yi Ting of Chinese Taipei.
If luck rolls Delgaco’s way, it’s going to be the Filipinos’ first ever gold medal in the rowing competition of this prestigious continental tourney.
It’s also going to be their first medal since Alvin Amposta and Nestor Cordova clinched a bronze medal in the men’s lightweight doubles sculls in the Busan edition of the Asiad in 2002.
Philippine Rowing Association President Patrick Gregorio admitted that the battle will not be easy but she expects that Delgaco would go all out to make history.
“I’m very happy that Joanie is in the finals. She is the only Southeast Asian rower in the finals tomorrow,” Gregorio, who will be at the stands when Delgaco sees action, said.
“It’s going to be tough competition against No. 1 seed Uzbekistan, then China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei. Joanie will be racing in Lane 2 with the No. 1 seed. Hopefully, she outperforms herself.”
Gregorio admitted that the Uzbek will be a tough nut to crack but there is a chance that Delgaco, the pride of Bicol, will pull off an earth-shaking upset.
“Joanie’s personal best is 7:39, which she did last week in training at the La Mesa Dam,” Gregorio said.
“If she duplicates it, she has a good chance of pulling an upset.”
Also seeing action on the final day of hostilities will be Tokyo Olympics veteran Cris Nievarez.
Nievarez will be competing in the Final B of the men’s single sculls event at 9:20 a.m. to determine his final standing in this tournament.
(AI/MNM)
HANGZHOU – Nesthy Petecio and the rest of the Philippine boxing team will be tested to the hilt when action goes full blast in the 19th Asian Games on Sunday at the Hangzhou Olympic Stadium.
The 32-year-old Petecio was drawn right away against top seed Lin Yu Ting of Chinese-Taipei in her opening bout in the women’s 57 kg class.
The Filipina though, beat Lin the last time they crossed paths in the ring, eking out a close 3-2 decision in their Round-of-16 match in the women’s 57 kg class of the Tokyo Olympics.
But boxing coach Ronald Chavez said the Asiad is an entirely different ball game for Petecio, who bagged a silver in the 2020 Olympiad.
“No. 1 agad natapat. Tinalo ni Nesthy yan kaya hindi nag-medal sa Olympics. Pero hindi pa rin dapat magkumpiyansa,” said Chavez shortly after the draw on Saturday.
Boxing competitions carry an added load in this year’s Asiad as it also serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Four Filipino boxers will have their hands full on opening day, including Tokyo bronze medal winner Eumir Marcial.
The 27-year-old Marcial, also a pro boxer, takes on Mongolia’s Ganzorig Badmaarag of Mongolia in his first foray in the 80 kg division.
Another Olympian in Irish Magno will be up against Nigina Uktamova of Uzbekistan in the women’s 54 kg, while Ira Villegas is set for a clash opposite Mongolia’s 21-year-old bet Yesugen Oyuntsetseg in the women’s 50 kg.
The other Filipino fighter who will climb the ring on opening day is Mark Ashley Fajardo versus Tashi Wangdi.
Tokyo Olympics silver medal winner Carlo Paalam makes his debut in the 57 kg class against Abu Jaja of Jordan, Aaron Jude Bado in the men’s 51 kg versus Thitisan Panmod of Thailand, and John Marvin against Nepal Ra of Nepal in the heaviest class at 92 kg.
Only Marjon Pianar drew a bye in his opening bout in the men’s 71 kg to advance to the next round.
No Filipino won gold during the 2018 Asiad in Palembang, Indonesia. Rogen Ladon gave the country a silver medal, while Paalam and Marcial both accounted for a bronze. (ai/mnm)