Para bets brace for Dubai action

The 67-member national delegation, which includes 48 athletes, is scheduled to leave for Dubai on Sunday and Monday to see action in the 2025 Asian Youth Para Games.

The bulk of the delegation, composed of athletes and officials from para archery, para athletics, boccia, goalball, para powerlifting, para swimming and para table tennis, will depart on Sunday, while the remaining members, including athletes from wheelchair basketball 3x3 and para badminton, will fly out on Monday.

The national contingent will be led by chef de mission Milette Santiago-Bonoan, along with Philippine Paralympic Committee president Mike Barredo and secretary-general Goody Custodio.

Around 1,500 para athletes from 35 Asian countries are expected to compete in the fifth edition of the Games, which will run from 7 to 14 December.

Para sports classification is set from 7 to 9 December while the opening ceremony is scheduled for 10 December. Competition proper will be held from 10 to 14 December.

Filipino para athletes will see action in nine from the 11 sports, aiming to replicate or surpass the country’s performance in the previous edition held in Manama, Bahrain in 2021.

In that meet, the country bagged one gold, six silver and two bronze medals. That lone gold, along with two silver, came from para swimmer Ariel Joseph Alegarbes.

Other medalists in that edition include Ronn Russell Mitra and Daniel Enderes Jr. in para athletics, Linard Sultan and Mary Eloise Sable in para table tennis, and para swimmer Angel Otom, who later joined the senior ranks and represented the country in the 2024 Paris Paralympics.