Mangliwan bags 1st Phl silver

HANGZHOU, China — Running a brilliant tactical race, Jerrold Mangliwan surged past South Korea's Jeon Jeongdae in the last 30 meters in snatching the silver medal in the men's 100-meter T52 finals of the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games at the Huanglong Sports Stadium oval here Tuesday.

Racing on the outside lane, Mangliwan bided his time before putting on a burst of speed in flashing past the South Korean in a personal best time of 18.65 seconds for his first medal in the continental meet after placing fourth in the same event in the 2018 edition held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Japan's Ito Tatsuya retained his title in clocking a new meet record of 17.41 seconds while Jeon, who clocked (18.67 seconds), settled for the bronze in Mangliwan's fourth straight Asian Para Games appearance backed by the Philippine Sports Commission.

Encouraged by his performance, Mangliwan, who won two mints in the Cambodian ASEAN Para Games last June, is expected to figure prominently for another medal in his pet event, the men's 400-meter T52 contest, scheduled later in the week.

Hoping to add to the country's medal tally later in the evening was swimmer Ernie Gawilan, who finished a strong second in the heats in the men's 400-meter freestyle S7 event with a time of five minutes and 11.16 seconds behind Singaporean Soong Too Wei (5:09.82).

A bronze medalist in the 200-meter individual medley the previous day, Gawilan, however, was apparently preserving his strength for the finals since he owns the current Asian Para Games mark of 4:51.00 when he won the event in the Indonesian capital five years ago.

Also making it to the finals of the men's 100-meter backstroke S14 event Tuesday night was APG rookie Joseph Ariel Alegarbes, who clocked 1:01.16 in finishing sixth among the eight finalists in the event.

On the other hand, Cambodia ASEAN Para Games quadruple gold medalist Angel Mae Otom finished a distant fourth in the women's 200-meter freestyle S5 finals in a time of 3:32.34.

Otom's teammates, Marco Tinamisan (men's 100-meter freestyle S4) and Roland Sabio (men's 200-meter IM SM9) failed to go beyond their respective heats.