THE Philippines pulled off a pair of nail-biting victories to ensure itself of at least two silver medals in 3×3 wheelchair basketball at the 13th ASEAN Para Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

The Filipinos turned back the Malaysians, 13-11, to claim a finals berth in the men’s division while the Filipinas dug deeper into their last remaining reservoir of strength in besting the Laotians, 8-4, and advancing to the finale.

Both squads face host Thailand for the gold medal round set on Thursday.

Regardless of the result, the country is already ensured of a pair of silvers including that historic one by the women’s squad.

“It’s history in the making because this is the first time we won a medal since we first joined in 2018,” said a teary-eyed, tattooed Filipina bruiser Camille Castro.

Needing to win by a minimum of four points to clinch the other finals berth, the Filipinas did just enough in coming through with what was needed and took the road to glory.

The pair of results somehow eased the pain of the football team’s 19-0 decimation at the hands of the Thais.

Action takes a momentary break on Wednesday with the opening ceremony where the country will be led by flag bearer Jerrold Mangliwan from wheelchair racing before resuming on Thursday where the real battle begins.

All eyes should remain on the chess, athletics and swimming teams, which accounted for all but one of the 33 gold medals the nation harvested in the last edition in Phnom Penh three years ago.

Also wading into war are powerlifting, which came through with one gold in the Cambodian capital, and other sports where the country hopes to rake in more medals like archery, badminton, boccia, road cycling, goalball, sitting volleyball, table tennis and tenpin bowling. — Joey Villar

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