This was a no-brainer for Gawilan

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HANGZHOU. – A sure gold or a new Asian Games record.

This was the choice national para swimming coach Tony Ong gave veteran swimmer Ernie Gawilan going into the men’s 400-meter freestyle S7 finals Tuesday night in the 4th Hangzhou Asian Games swimming championships at the Hangzhou Olympic Center Aquatic Arena here.

With advice from national team chief of mission and former national standout Ral Rosario, Ong and Gawilan decided to make certain of the gold, with the swimmer sticking to the game plan that resulted in the country winning its first gold medal in the games.

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Making his move at the 150-meter mark, the soft-spoken Davao City pride left his rivals in his wake to clock a winning time of four minutes and 58.29 seconds, nearly seven seconds slower than his 4:51 clocking when he won the event five years ago in Jakarta, Indonesia.

“We and Ernie both decided that it was better for him to ensure the gold because we needed it. Kalimutan muna pansamantala ang record dahil mas importante ang manalo,” noted Ong, who laid out the strategy in advance after Gawilan finished second overall in the heats earlier in the day.

“Ang sabi ko kay Ernie na estimahin niya muna ‘yung mga kalaban early in the race, especially young Singaporean (Soong Toh Wei) and also the Chinese (Huang Xianguan) who beat him in the 200 IM the previous night,” Ong said.

Unlike the night before when he settled for the bronze, Gawilan was beaming from ear to ear as he emerged from the pool all by himself while the rest of the field completed the race.

The Singaporean finished a far second in 5:12.16 while Huang struggled to finish third in 5:12.16.

Ong and Gawilan said their mission was far from over because they were preparing for his third and final event, the 100-meter backstroke, on Thursday, hoping to add another golden triumph to further underscore his reputation as one of–if not the–the country’s greatest para swimmers of all time.

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