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WHERE their normal counterparts failed, Filipino disabled athletes
will tray to succeed.
A 110-member delegation, including 88
differently-abled athletes, will carry the country’s colors in the
4th Asean Para Games slated January 17 to 27 in Nakhon Ratchasima in
Thailand, site of the just-concluded 24th Southeast Asian Games
where the country wound up a dismal sixth overall, its worst.
The team, made up of partial and total visually
impaired campaigners, orthopedically handicapped (am-putees, polio
victims or spinal cord injured), intellectually disabled and those
with cerebral palsy, will strut their wares against their
counterparts in 12 of 14 events on tap,” Philippine Sports
Association for the Differently Abled president Mike Barredo
announced Friday during the SCOOP weekly session at the Kamayan
Restaurant-Padre Faura.
Barredo, a former commissioner of the Philippine
Sports Commission, said the Philippines will compete in archery,
athletics, badminton, boccia, chess, fencing, judo, powerlifting,
shooting, swimming, table tennis and wheelchair basketball.
“Though our team is modest compared to those
from our neighboring countries, our athletes will do their best to
better our previous performance two years ago during the third
edition of the Games held here,” Barredo assured his audience in
the public service forum sponsored by Accel.
Host Thailand, he said, is fielding in a 300-man
contingent, Malaysia 280 and Vietnam about the same number of
athletes.
The Filipino disabled athletes amassed 22 gold
medals, 42 silver medals and 40 bronze medals to end up fourth
overall in the medal standing
Olympian and Asian Games gold medalist in
swimming Ral Rosario, who will be the contingent’s chef de
mission, said the Philippines is not competing in goalball and
wheelchair tennis.
Like last year, the Filipinos hope top dominate
chess, swimming, table tennis and athletics where the bulk of their
predecessors’ medal production came from, Rosario said.
Also in the forum were Philspada vice president
Luis Arellano, secretary general Noel Ascue and amputee Arnold
Balais, who will be seeing action in swimming.
The Philippine participation is realized due to
the P12-million earmarked by the PSC as well as contributions from
the private sector like PLDT-Smart, Centrum, Nike and some other
corporate godfathers who are sponsoring a sport each.
Barredo said the entire delegation will call on
President Gloria Arroyo in a sendoff ceremony scheduled at Malacañang
on January 11.
Barredo also announced that the team’s
participation in Thailand will serve as preparation for the 2008
Paralympic Games set in Beijing a week after the 28th Summer Olympic
Games.
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