BAGUIO CITY (PIA) – A Cordilleran para athlete was the country’s flag bearer in the opening rites of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic recently.
Wheelchair racer Jerrold Pete Mangliwan, 41, of Tabuk City, Kalinga, led the Philippine Team in the parade of nations in the formal opening of the 2020 Paralympics at Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo on Tuesday night (August 24).
Mangliwan was joined by four other athletes that include Asian Para Games champion Ernie Gawilan of para swimming, Allain Ganapin of para taekwondo, Jeanette Aceveda of para athletics, and Gary Bejino of para swimming.
The sixth athlete, powerlifter Achelle Guion, missed her chance to see action in the Tokyo Paralympics as she tested positive of COVID-19 before flying to Tokyo.
After the Philippines’ most successful campaign in Olympic history, the para athletes are hoping to add to the success of Filipino Olympians in their respective sports events.
The five Filipino athletes will see action in the Tokyo Paralympics in four different sports as over 4,500 differently abled athletes take center stage from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
Mangliwan makes his Paralympics return this year after surpassing the Paralympics standard time of 1 minute and 3.27 seconds in the 400-meter T52 wheelchair race during the 2021 World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Nottwill, Switzerland.
According to the Philippine Sports Commission, Mangliwan started his wheelchair racing career in 2009. It was an unexpected journey for him when he raced only to test his strength and ability after acquiring paraplegia from polio. He continued training and he is now one of the country’s pride and member of the Philippine Para Athletics team.
In 2015, he competed at the ASEAN Para Games in Singapore and won two gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter T52 race, plus a silver medal in the T52 400-meter competition.
A year later, Mangliwan qualified to represent the country in the Rio Summer Paralympic Games in Brazil where he became part of the five-man Philippine para-athletes team. He placed 7th overall in the 400-meter T52 wheelchair race, and also joined in the 100-meter T52 event.
On Friday, Mangliwan advanced to the men’s 400 meter T52 finals after finishing fourth in his qualifying heat with a time of 1:03.41 and placing seventh overall. **RMC- PIA-CAR
