Photo: Pinoy para-swimmers Gary Bejino and Ernie Gawilan. | Facebook photos
CEBU CITY, Philippines—Filipino para swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino missed the medal rounds of their respective events in the men’s swimming competition of the World Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, August 30, 2021.
Both para swimmers were eliminated in the qualifying heats after Gawilan finished sixth in the 100-meter backstroke S7 category while Bejino settled for seventh place in the 50m butterfly S6 event.
Gawilan finished the race in one minute and 21.60 seconds, capping off his campaign in three events of the quadrennial meet featuring the best para-athletes in the world.
“Medyo nahirapan si Ernie sa 400-meter freestyle yesterday (Sunday). He was three seconds off his personal best in the backstroke,” said swimming coach Tony Ong in a press release after the Davao City swimmer’s performance.
“I believe that Gary’s time of 36.14 seconds is his personal best if I am not mistaken. Nagbago kami ng stroke because of the new rule in the butterfly event. He still got a very good time,” Ong added.
Meanwhile, Bejino logged 36.14 seconds in his event and finished 15th overall among 16 swimmers. He was behind 5.13 seconds against the top qualifier Wang Jingang of China.
Bejino has two events left; the 400m freestyle and the 100m backstroke, which will be on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Ong believes that his tankers could have performed better if given enough time to prepare. However, due to the restrictions brought by the current quarantine status because of COVID-19, they only had a short time to train.
“Our kids (Gawilan and Bejino) are very talented. I just hope we can have a longer training period for next year’s Asian Para Games,” added Ong.
/bmjo