PHILIPPINE para team chief of mission Ral Rosario and Philippine Paralympic Committee director for sports development Milette Santiago-Bonoan left over the weekend to check the status of the national para team for the 17th Paris Paralympic Games unfolding on Aug. 28.
Rosario, a two-time Olympian, and Bonoan will take a first-hand look at the conditions of the six para athletes — wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, wheelchair thrower Cendy Asusano, swimmers Ernie Gawilan, Angel Mae Otom, archer Agustina Bantiloc and taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin — who have been training in Nimes, France since Aug. 12.
All the Pinoy standard-bearers and their respective coaches were set to move into the Paris Paralympic Games Village tomorrow and begin their tapering phase before plunging into action in the global sports showcase for physically-challenged athletes.
Bantiloc will be the first to compete in the women’s individual compound event on Aug. 29 a day after the opening ceremony that will be held outdoors for the first time between the scenic Place dela Concorde and Champ-Elysees right in the heart of the romantic and picturesque French capital.
“We are having a fine time in Nimes, although Angel was slightly under the weather last week maybe because of the long overland travel after arriving in Paris,” said national para swimming coach Tony Ong.
Ong said the Nimes Metropole has dedicated one lane of its pool to his swimmers “and they (Otom and Gawilan) are making the most of the, especially Ernie, who has not experienced having a training camp like this in his previous Paralympic Games stints.
“We usually train in the afternoon to early evening while time is also spent for physical conditioning.”
He said that track and field athletes Mangliwan and Asusano have their training venue all to themselves, the same with Bantiloc and Ganapin.
Their stint is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Once they have met Rosario and Bonoan “yours truly and the other coaches will decide who will be the country’s standard-bearer at the opening ceremony,” Ong said.
The Pinoy bets will try to an eight-year medal drought in the quadrennial sportsfest since the late para table tennis player Josephine Medina bagged a bronze medal in the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
