By MARK REY MONTEJO
The Philippine Para team remained without a medal after wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan settled for sixth place in the men’s 100-meter T52 event in the 2024 Paris Paralympics on Friday, Sept. 6, in Stade de France.
Mangliwan, 44, crossed the line in 19.44 seconds but it was not enough to advance to the finals.
Japan’s Tomoki Sato led the qualifiers with 17.20sec while Canada’s Anthony Bouchard (17.43sec) and Mexico’s Salvador Hernandez Mondragon (17.45sec) landed second and third places, respectively.
Another Japanese bet Tomoya Ito (17.58sec) also booked his finals ticket, as well as world record holder and 400m-T52 champion Maxime Carabin of Belgium with a personal-best 16.21sec, Great Britain’s Marcus Daley (16.87sec), Mexican Leonardo Juarez (17.57sec) and Tatsuya Ito (17.76sec).
That marked the final appearance for the pride of Tabuk, Kalinga after also a failed bid in the men’s 400m T52 where he made it to the final round but finished dead last.
Mangliwan joins archer Agustina Bantiloc, swimmer Ernie Gawilan, and taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin in the PH cheering squad.
The country’s medal hopes now hinge on how swimmer Angel Otom javelin thrower Cendy Asusano fare in their respective events.
Otom competes alongside her idol Lu Dong of China into the women’s 50m butterfly-S5 heats for a final shot at glory later Friday, Sept. 6, at Paris La Defense Arena.
Para javelin thrower Cendy Asusano, for her part, sees action in the women’s javelin throw-F54 on Saturday, Sept. 7.
