LINARD Sultan copped a pair of silver in table tennis as the Philippines continued to haul in the medals in the 2021 Asian Youth Para Games in Bahrain yesterday.
Mr. Sultan, a 22-year-old native of Catbalogan, Samar who has congenital limb deficiency, came through in the men’s singles Class 8 as well as in the mixed team with a Kuwaiti and a Singaporean.
In table tennis here, participants were allowed to team up with other countries.
It was two of the three medals the country snared in table tennis with the other one — a bronze — coming from Mary Eloise Sable, who joined forces with Malaysians in the women’s mixed team.
Mr. Sultan had a chance to strike gold in the singles when he routed Hong Kong’s Lau Yoho, 3-0, in the semis but fell short against Iran’s Seyed Amirhossein Hosseinipour, 3-2, in the gold medal round.
“We’ve got a bright future because of these young athletes,” said national para table tennis coach Louie Eballa.
The contributions of the paddlers, whose trip are being bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), hiked the country’s overall harvest to a gold, six silvers and two bronzes.
The mint was courtesy of Ariel Joseph Alegabres, who also had two silvers in swimming.
Ronn Russell Mitra and Daniel Enderes, Jr. snared a silver each in track and field while Angel Otom plucked a bronze in swimming to account for the country’s other medals.
Mr. Alegabres and Ms. Otom were shooting for more medals in the boys’ 200-meter individual medley and girls’ 50m freestyle, respectively, at press time.
The country had already eclipsed its lone bronze medal effort in the 2017 edition in Dubai. — Joey Villar
