Para table tennis athlete Lhey Marie Manginsay has been selected to carry the Philippine flag during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Asian Youth Para Games in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 10 December.

A native of Zamboanga Sibugay, Manginsay has been one of the country’s fast-rising para athletes after delivering a breakthrough performance at the 2025 ITTF World Para Future Taipei in Taiwan last June where she and Jan Wildfreed Redulla secured the country’s lone gold medal in the mixed doubles class XD17-Group 1.

Last year, she turned heads after beating a national team player for the singles gold medal in the 8th Philippine National Para Games (PNPG), while adding two silver medals.

“I’m grateful for being chosen as the flag bearer for Team Philippines,” Manginsay said in Filipino.

“This is not just an honor, but a responsibility because as a flag-bearer, I am also carrying the hopes and stories of every Filipino para athlete, especially the youth who dreams of being in this position someday.”

The opening ceremony will be held at the Dubai Club for People of Determination Stadium, with competition also set to start on the same day until 14 December.

Para sports classification began last Sunday and will continue until Tuesday.

Manginsay is one of the four Filipino para table tennis players, and forms part of the 48-player national delegation, which will compete in nine of the 11 sports.

Around 1,500 para athletes from 35 Asian countries are competing in this fifth edition, with the Filipinos hoping to maintain or surpass their previous haul of one gold, six silver and two bronze medals held in Manama, Bahrain in 2021.

The bulk of the national delegation left for Dubai on Sunday, with the remaining athletes scheduled to follow on Monday.