PARALYMPICS veterans Gary Bejino and Ernie Gawilan reigned in the pool, Cendy Asusano dominated in shotput and Marydol Pamati-an put on a show in powerlifting to fuel the Philippine campaign in the 12th Asean Para Games in Phnom Penh on Sunday.
Bejino won the men’s S7 400 meters freestyle with a record time of four minutes and 58.78 seconds, while Gawilan made it two golds in swimming by ruling the S6 class also at 400 meters in 5:38.26.
The 27-year-old Bejino shattered the six-year-old record of 6:07.99 owned by Myanmar’s Aung Myint Myat, who had to settle with the silver medal this time with 6:04.17.
“I’m happy because I gave Team Philippines its first gold medal,” said Bejino, a native of Tabaco (Albay) who will still compete in the 200, 100 and 50 freestyle, 50 butterfly and the 4x100m medley relay with Gawilan.
Asusano, meanwhile, left her mark at the Morodok Techno National Stadium with her gold medal-clinching 5.77 meters throw in women’s F54 of shotput, where Marites Burce (4.84) made it a 1-3 finish. Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thuy clinched silver with 5.48.
The 33-year-old Asusano vowed to add two more mints in javelin on Monday and discus throw on Wednesday.
“I’m eyeing three golds,” said Asusano, who hiked his gold to six, three he won in Kuala Lumpur 2017 and two in Surakarta 2022.
Pamati-an, meanwhile, finally hit it big in the women’s 41-kg division in powerlifting at the National Paralympic Committee Hall.
Achelle Guion, also a Paralympics veteran, chipped in a two powerlifting silvers in women’s 45kg division, while Ariel Joseph Alegarbes, the flag-bearer and a triple gold winner in Surakarta, pocketed silver in the 100 breaststroke SB14 with a clocking of 1:13.59.
Malaysian Mohd Adib Igbal Abdullah captured gold in 1:09.54 while Singapore’s Darren Wei Siang Chan clinched bronze in 1:18.82.
