Gary Bejino. | Photo from Bejino
CEBU CITY, Philippines—- Filipino para swimmer Gary Bejino bows out of the men’s 400-meter freestyle S6 qualifying heats in the World Paralympic Games on Thursday, September 2, at the Tokyo Aquatic Center in Tokyo, Japan.
Coming off a two-day break, Bejino checked in with a time of 5 minutes and 52.28 seconds and finished 13th and last overall in the two heats that clearly dissatisfied the Filipino para swimmer.
He finished 46 seconds behind Rio Paralympic bronze medalist Talisson Glock, who led the top eight qualifiers in a time of 5:06.28 in the finals later in the afternoon.
“Gary did not make it to the finals, although nag-improve naman po time niya compared to his time of 6:10 in Berlin,” said Bejino’s coach, Tony Ong in a press release from the Philippine Sports Commission.
“He (Bejino) was not happy with his performance and will go hard and try to improve in the 100-meter backstroke tomorrow,” Ong added.
The 100-meter backstroke S6 men’s event will be Bejino’s fourth and final event of the World Paralympic games tomorrow, Friday. It is the event where he bagged a bronze medal in the 2017 ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Bejino will plunge into action in the second heat in lane No. 2 at 9:23 a.m. (8:23 a.m. in Manila) on Friday, with the top eight swimmers entering the finals in the afternoon.
Wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan will also compete tomorrow in the men’s 100m T52 race at 11:07 AM (10:07 AM, Manila Time) to cap off the Philippine Paralympic delegation’s campaign that was marred with numerous COVID-19 infection among its members.
“Just give me a good start,” said coach para athletic Joel Deriada of the message he sent his athlete from Manila.
“Kapag maganda yong start all the way na yun. Kaya yun ang naging focus ng training namin the last few days.”
Deriada acknowledged that it will be a huge challenge for Mangliwan, whose personal best in the event is 18.98 seconds, in the run where 2012 London Paralympic triple gold medalist Raymond Martin of the US, looms as the top favorite with a personal best of 16.41 seconds.
Deriada will be in lane No. 3 beside Martin, who has Irish-Filipino blood and is still searching for his first gold here, in lane No. 4.
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