DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A new generation of Filipino para athletes announced its arrival on the Asian stage after surpassing expectations at the 2025 Asian Youth Para Games, which concluded here on Saturday, Dec. 14.

Though official final medal standings were still pending at press time, Team Philippines delivered a breakout performance, collecting eight gold, 14 silver, and eight bronze medals --an emphatic leap from its modest showing in Manama, Bahrain, where the country finished with just one gold, six silver and two bronze medals.

Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) President Mike Barredo credited the remarkable surge to the dedication of the 48-member PH squad backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, noting that the team eclipsed its previous overall output in only two days of competition.

“I’m very proud of them because we have outdone our medal tally in Bahrain more than five times,” said Barredo.

“There may be sports where we didn’t get medals, but I think this is a good start for our youth program. We are headed on the right direction and this is a good showcase of what our youth can do,” he added.

Para swimmers accounted for the most number of medals for Team PH with six gold, six silver and two bronze medals courtesy of Ric Daniel Pasadilla, Mary Hannah Diesto, Raemond Adefuin, Zach Lucas Obsioma and Bladimir Sebastian Gonzales.

Pasadilla, a 13-year-old student of Pototan National Comprehensive High School in Iloilo, became the most bemedalled Filipino para athlete in this edition after bringing home three gold medals in the boys 12-16 200-meter individual medley SM10, 100m back S10, and 100m butterfly S10, as well as one silver in the 100m free S10 and one bronze in the 100m breaststroke SB9.

Para athletics bets also delivered two gold medals courtesy of John Rey Diano in the men’s long jump U20 T20 and RJ Brucal in the men’s long jump T20 U17. They also pocketed five silver medals from Mark Lorence Suarez (men’s long jump U20 T20), Edwina Aquino (women’s 100m U20 T12), Lexia Sianen (women’s javelin throw U20 F46) and Charmel Bada (women’s 400m T20 and women’s long jump T20), as well as two bronze medals from Jolly Poquiz (men’s long jump U20 T20) and Kyle Norte (men’s 100m U20 T20), with other results still pending for official confirmation.

Para table tennis players also managed one silver from Lhey Manginsay in the women’s U23 singles Class 9, and three bronze medals from Ramces Tuala (men’s U23 singles Class 8, Barge Cabañero (men’s singles class 6-7), and the mixed doubles pair of Tuala and Manginsay in the U20 class 12-17.

Daniela Catacutan also delivered a silver medal for boccia in the individual BC1 female, as well as John Cyrus Maclang in the para badminton with Chinese Taipei partner Lin Jia Shang in the SH6 doubles.

Para archery Jannah Ballesta, for her part, bagged the bronze the women’s W1 Open U21.

Barredo said their latest successful conquest was part of the strong connection to the Palarong Pambansa program.

“Several of our athletes who won medals here are talents identified at the Palarong Pambansa and I think we should push for more sports to include at the Palaro so that we could produce more athletes who could win medals for the Philippines,” said Barredo.

Barredo also praised the coaches who identified, traind and developed the athletes.

“There is now more awareness across the country on what para sports is and what events are, and our coaches are doing a good job by being able to identify the talents around the country,” he said.