By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan advanced to the medal round but swimmer Ernie Gawilan fell short in his own bid Friday in the Tokyo Paralympics
Mangliwan finished seventh in the morning heats of the men’s 400 meters T52 by clocking 1 minute and 3.41 seconds behind top qualifier Tomoki Sato of Japan (57.33 seconds).
The two-time medalist in the 2018 Asian Para Games finished fourth in his group heat but managed to earn a finals berth after posting one of the two next fastest times in the combined two heats.
Also advancing were United States’ Raymond Martin (57.70sec) and Gianfranco Iannota (1:00.98), Japan’s Hirokazu Ueyonabaru (1:01.05), American Isaiah Rigo (1:01.75), Mexico’s Leonardo de Jesus Perez Juarez (1:02.92), and Austria’s Thomas Geierspichler (1:04.22).
Finals will be Friday night.
Mangliwan, who is also the country’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony, will also compete in the men’s 1500m T2 on Saturday and men’s 100m T52 on Sept. 2.
Gawilan, on the other hand, missed his chance to make it to the finals of the men’s 200-meter individual medley SM7 Friday after finishing ninth in the heats at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Gawilan timed 2 minutes and 50.49sec to finish ninth out of 13 participants in the morning preliminaries where the top eight para swimmers will advance to the medal round. He finished fifth in his heat.
Gawilan is still scheduled to compete in the men’s 400m freestyle S7 on Sunday and men’s 100m backstroke S7 on Monday.
