Chess bets bag four gold medals to cap best PH outing in ASEAN Para Games

Filipino chess players wrapped up the Philippines' campaign in the 11th ASEAN Para Games on a golden note on Friday with a sweep of four events at the Lo-rin Hotel in Surakarta, Indonesia.

The Philippines ruled the men’s B2-B3, women’s PI individual, and team blitz events to give the country its best finish ever in the biennial event.

Darry Bernardo took the individual gold while anchoring the squad in the men’s B2-B3 category alongside Menandro Redor and Arman Subaste, while Cheyzer Mendoza did the same in teaming up with Cheryl Angot and Jean-LeeNacita in the women’s PI class. 

Meanwhile, FIDE Master Sander Severino wound up with an individual silver in the men’s PI blitz as his partners Henry Mendoza and Felix Aguilera also took team runner-up honors. Nonetheless, Severino emerged as the country’s most bemedaled athlete with four gold and two silvers in the 11-nation conclave.

With these, the Philippine hiked up its medal tally to 28 gold, 28 silver, and 44 bronze medals and eclipsed the 20-20-29 tally in placing fifth overall in the 2017 Malaysian edition. 

Earlier in the day, swimming added three more golds with Ariel Joseph Alegarbes completing a sweep of his three events in another meet record in the 11th ASEAN Para Games at the Jatadiri Sports Complex in Semarang.

Alegarbes ruled the men’s 50-meter freestyle S14 race in 25.74 seconds to secure his third straight gold medal, duplicating the feat of female teammate Angel Otom last Thursday.

Another Filipino tanker Marco Tinamisan sustained his sweet performance with his second straight gold medal while Gary Bejino finally scored a breakthrough after two runner-up finishes in capturing his first gold in the swimming competition. 

Tinamisan bagged the gold in the men’s 100-meter freestyle S3 event in a winning time of 1:54.15 while veteran Bejino ruled the men’s 100-meter freestyle S6 race in 1:13.80 to raise the PH para swimming team’s gold total to 12.

—JMB, GMA News