Gary Bejino failed to advance to the next round of the swimming competition Thursday after finishing last in his event in the Tokyo Paralympics at the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
Bejino, a two-time Southeast Asian Para Games gold medalist, clocked 3 minutes and 17.19 seconds in the men’s 200-meter individual medley SM6 to finish 17th and last overall in the morning heats.
Colombia’s Nelson Crispin Corzo topped the qualifiers with 2:43.07 followed by Russian Paralympic Committee’s Andrei Granichka (2:45.95) and China’s Jia Hongguang (2:48.28)
Only the Top 8 para swimmers in the combined three heats will advance to the finals set Thursday afternoon.
Bejino still has three events left: the men’s 50m butterfly S6 and the men’s 400m freestyle S6 scheduled Sept. 2 and the men’s 100m backstroke S6 on Sept. 3.
Meanwhile, Ernie Gawilan opens his campaign in the men’s 200m IM SM& on Friday, Aug. 27 while wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan competes in the men’s 400m T52 in athletics at the Olympic Track Stadium.
Mangliwan returns on Saturday, Aug. 28, for the men’s 1500m T52.