ASEAN Para Games 2023: PH closes Day 6 campaign with nine golds

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Team Philippines earned its biggest gold haul so far in the ASEAN Para Games (APG) 2023 on Wednesday, June 7.

The nationals bagged nine gold medals on Day 6 to tighten their grip on the fifth spot.

Hiking their gold collection to 27, the Filipino contingent still has two more days to surpass the country's 28 golds in last year's APG in Surakarta, Indonesia.

Indonesia continued to dominate the medal tally with 128 golds, followed by second-running Thailand snagged 96.

Vietnam stayed in third place, winning 60 golds, as Malaysia enjoyed a sizeable advantage against the Philippines with 42.

Myanmar moved to sixth place with 13 golds, overtaking Singapore with 10.

The para chess team bannered the Philippines' Day 6 campaign after winning four of the nation's nine golds, while swimmers and track athletes had their share.

Filipino para chess players ensured their presence is felt after providing four golds in the Philippines' growing war chest.

Darry Bernardo raised his personal gold tally to four as he ruled the men's individual standard chess VI-B2/B3 and capped the men's team standard chess VI-B2/B3 with Arman Subaste and Menandro Redor.

Last Sunday, National Master Bernardo became the Philippines' first double gold medalist at this biennial meet for differently abled athletes behind his triumphs in the men's individual rapid VI-B2/B3 and men's team rapid VI-B2/B3, alongside Redor and Israel Peligro.

Her female counterpart, Cheyzer Mendoza, snared two golds as she topped the women's individual standard chess PI and worked alongside Cheryl Angot and Fe Mangayayam to capture the women's team standard chess PI crown.

Meanwhile, Francis Ching settled for silver in the men's individual standard BI.

Subaste and Henry Roger Lopez placed third in the men's individual P1.

The men's and women's chess teams also wound up five bronze medals in standard B1.

Filipina tanker Angel Otom bagged two gold medals, while Ernie Gawilan got his second at Phnom Penh 2023 as the para-swimming team gave the Philippines three golds.

Otom surpassed her three-gold production in the last APG edition en route to joining Bernardo as the only four-gold medalist for the nationals after netting two golds in the women's 50-meter butterfly and freestyle S5 at Morodok Aquatics Center.

The Olongapo lass shattered her 48.07 performance in the 50m butterfly last year after recording 47.33 seconds.

Otom's two first-place finishes came in the 50m backstroke on Sunday and 200m individual medley S5 on Tuesday.

Gawilan, meanwhile, wore his second gold medal after clinching the men's 200m individual medley SM7.

The APG 2023 men's 400m freestyle S7 champion posted two minutes and 50.29 seconds to overcome Vietnam's Nguyen Hoang Nha, who finished the race in 2:56.96 for the silver.

Completing the podium casts, Han Quang Thoai of Vietnam dazzled for bronze with a 2:57.25 recorded time.

The two-time Paralympian now collected three medals, two golds and one bronze in the 100m backstroke last Monday.

Jerrold Mangliwan and Evaristo Carbonel provided two more golds from the para-athletics team after dominating their respective events to become double gold medalists for the Philippines.

Mangliwan nabbed his second APG 2023 gold, triumphing in the men's 200m T52. Last June 6, he emerged victorious in the 400m T52 event.

Carbonel, on the other hand, bested his competitors to win the men's discus throw F11. With this win, he followed suit his gold medal victory in the javelin throw F11 last Monday.

Carbonel defeated Brunei Darussalam's Awang Raduan-Awang Haji Mataha by throwing 25.67 meters, while the latter claimed silver with 20.99m.

Cambodian bet Vann Chamroeun completed the top three with a 14.92 throw for the bronze.