TOKYO. – Slowly getting used to the spotlight, Gary Bejino was unhappy with his form after bowing out of the men’s 400-meter freestyle-S6 heats of the Tokyo Paralympic Games swimming championships at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre here on Thursday.
Coming off a two-day break, Bejino checked in with a time of five minutes and 52.28seconds to finish13th and last overall in the heats, which left him dissatisfied, according to swimming coach Tony Ong.
Bejino Paralympian finished 46 seconds behind Rio Paralympic bronze medalist Alison Glock, who led the top eight qualifiers with 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 time niya compared to his time of 6:10 in Berlin,” said Ong, referring to the athlete’s clocking in the Internationale Deutsche MeisterschaftenBerlin 2021 World Para Swimming Series in Germany last June.
“He was not happy with his performance and will go hard and try to improve in the 100-meter backstroke tomorrow,” Ong said of the swimmer’s fourth and final event, where he bagged bronze medals in the 2017 Asean Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and 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.
Also competing on the same day is wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, who sees action in the men’s 100-meter-T52 race finals at 11:07 am. (10:07 a.m.), rounding out the Philippine Paralympic campaign in Tokyo fully supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
“Just give me a good start,” coach Joel Deriada said in message sent to Mangliwan from Manila.
“Kapag maganda ‘yung start allthe way na ‘yun. Kaya yun ang naging focus ng training namin the last few days.”
Deriada admitted it will be a huge challenge for Mangliwan, whose personal best in the event is 18.98 seconds, while 2012 London Paralympic triple gold medalist Raymond Martin is the favorite with a personal best of 16.41 seconds.
