Triumph built on blood, sweat and tears

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HANGZHOU. – AS Rome wasn’t built in a day, the outstanding success of the national para chess team in the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games that ended here last Saturday wasn’t achieved overnight but was built on blood, sweat and, indeed, tears.

“Definitely,” said national para chess coach James Infiesto said of the hard work, teamwork, discipline and sacrifices the chess players made in becoming the sensation of the 72-man Philippine delegation that saw action in the meet.

Thanks to their bumper crop harvest of five golds on the final day of the continental sportsfest, the Philippines was able to match the 10 golds it won in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games, boosting the country to an all-time best finish of ninth overall among the 44 nations that saw action in the meet.

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Visually-impaired players Menandro Redor and Darry Bernardo were the country’s triple gold medalists while Henry Roger Lopez and Atty. Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza won a pair of mints, underscoring the dominant performance of Infiesto’s wards.

The Filipinos also produced four silvers and five bronzes, an output less than the eight and 11 they took, respectively, five years ago in the Indonesian capital.

The Filipino bets emerged as the third best team in Southeast Asia behind No. 6 Indonesia (29-30-36) and No. 7 Thailand (27-26-55) in the competition expectedly dominated by the Chinese hosts, who bagged overall honors with a runaway haul of 214 golds, 167 silvers and 140 bronzes.

A distant second was Iran (44-46-41) while Japan, which will host the next edition in 2026, was third (42-49-59), followed by South Korea (30-33-40) and India (29-31-51).

“Masayang-masaya ako dahil lahat ng sacrifices namin nagbunga. ‘Yung individual golds elusive talaga. This is my best performance in the Asian Para Games,” said Lopez, 42, adding they were cooped up in a training camp for three months at the National Council for Disability Affairs headquarters before competing here.

“Matagal din kaming nawalay sa family,” noted the wheelchair-bound Davao City native.

Quietly sobbing, Lopez paid tribute to Jasper Rom, whose parents Perfito and Fidela passed away in succession in the midst of the games but stayed on to compete and help the team in an inspiring testament of going beyond and above the call of duty for flag and country.

“Usually, hindi ako umiiyak pero di ko mapigil dahil naging malaki ang sakripisyo ni Jasper sa amin rito. I would not have the individual gold without him,” said Lopez, wiping the tears off his eyeglasses.

“We had to protect Henry at all costs because he was leading going into the final round. Ang sabi ko sa sarili ko lahat ma-matehin ko manalo lang siya,” stressed Rom, smiling in the knowledge that he had contributed to his teammate’s mint.

Infiesto said this was the kind of esprit de corps they had cultivated among not only the players but the coaching staff as well.

“I always tell them that while we are playing individually across your opponent, you are also part of the team, and it is the team that matters. Each of us has the responsibility for the other,” he said. “We need to look for each other’s backs.”

Part of the winning strategy, he revealed, was analyzing the possibilities after every round and game and considering what to do for the succeeding rounds and matches.

“This is why I had to stay late at night in evaluating all possible scenarios and applying these to our next rounds and matches,” he explained while keeping other “trade secrets” to himself and his players.

Mixing all of these ingredients produced one of the country’s shining moments at this Games, exceeding the 5-6-2 tally the para chess players did in Jakarta five years ago.

“Absolutely impossible, but there it is. How we are going to top this I don’t know but we will just celebrate for now,” the coach, pinching himself in disbelief, said.

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