SWIMMERS Ernie Gawilan and Roland Sabido won the Philippines’ first two gold medals and javelin thrower Cendy Asusano made it a three-gold haul on Monday morning in the Asean Para Games in Indonesia.
A triple-gold medalist in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Para Games, Gawilan ruled the men’s 400-meter freestyle S7 in a time of four minutes and 54.87 seconds at the Jatadiri Sports Complex pool in Semarang.
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Sabido and Arnel Aba finished 1-2 finish in the men’s 400-meter freestyle S9, clocking 5:09.40 and 5:14.13, respectively.
“Naging maganda po ang swim ko sa unang event. Sana magtuloy-tuloypo ito,” said the 31-year-old Gawilan, scheduled to compete in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay with Sabido, Aba and Edwin Villanueva, who copped a bronze medal in the men’s 400-meter freestyle S8.
Asusano ruled the women’s javelin throw F54 with a heave of 13.72 meters at the Manahan Stadium.

The Philippines is off to a fine start in the Asean Para Games.
“Masaya po ako kasi hindi ko aakalain na makukuha ko yung ginto sa unang bato pa lang,” said Asusano, who settled the issue on the first attempt.
Bagging bronze medals were Joel Balatucan in the men’s shot put F55, Daniel Enderes Jr. in the men’s 500-m T20 race, Armand Dino in the men’s 100-m T47 race and Jesebel Tordecilla in the women’s discus throw F55.
Table tennis bagged two bronze medals in the men’s team Class 4 through Billy Cartera, Racleo Martinez and Darwin Salvacion and men’s class 8 doubles courtesy of Jobert Lumanta and Jayson Ocampo.
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