MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Para table netter Josephine Medina added another silver to the Philippines’ coffers from the 2018 Asian Para Games table tennis tournament on Tuesday, October 9, in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Medina fell to China’s Mao Jingdian in 3 sets, 8-11, 3-11, 6-11, in the gold medal match of the women’s singles TT8 event. 

The Filipino Paralympian had a dominant start to her campaign as she swept Thailand’s Kanlaya Kriabklang and China’s Huang Wenjian who settled for a bronze as Medina prevented an all-Chinese table tennis finals. 

Medina – who represented the Philippines in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics – was diagnosed with polio. 

The 48-year-old was one of the highly touted Filipino bets to bring home a medal from the continental multi-sport event for para athletes. 

Bemedalled para swimmer Ernie Gawilan earned his third medal in the Asian Para Games as he picked up a silver in the men’s 100m freestyle (S7) event. 

Gawilan – who delivered the country’s historic Asian Para Games gold medal – clocked 1 minute, 6.74 seconds behind Singapore’s Wei Soong Toh (1:03.16). Korea’s Lee Donggu trailed the Filipino by 5 seconds (1:11.87) and landed at 3rd place. 

In the men’s road cycling (C4) event, Godfrey Taberna bagged the bronze after clocking 2 hours, 11 minutes and 24.359 seconds behind silver medalist Najib Mohb of Malaysia who edged the Filipino out by 5 hundreths of a second (2:11:24.307). 

China’s Weiguoping ruled the competition by nipping the podium finishers by a second,  timing 2:11:23.665. 

Gary Bejino continued to haul medals for the Philippine contingent as he snagged his second bronze medal in the men’s 100m freestyle S6. 

The Pinoy Para swimmer clocked 1 minute and 15.32 seconds for the last spot on the podium while China’s Yang Hong settled for a silver (1:14.04) and Kazakhstan’s Salimgereyev Yerzhan reigned supreme (1:12.22). 

Philippines now has a total of 10 medals – 2 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronzes – for a 14th place standing in the tournament’s medal tally. 

The team has already surpassed its 5 silver and 5 bronze medal haul in 2014 thanks to gold medals by Gawilan’s and Chi Kim Ian. – Rappler.com