PARIS – Para taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin came so close to upsetting fancied Azerbaijani Abulfaz Abuzarli before dropping a heartbreaking 9-12 decision in the second round of the K44 men’s 80-kilogram division of the 17th Paris Paralympic Games at the Grand Palais here Saturday.
Well ahead 9-5 with one minute and 49 seconds remaining in match, Abuzarli’s coach sued for time to disrupt the Filipino’s play and revise his athlete’s tactics, a ploy that worked wonders for the reigning European Para Championships king.
Ganapin remained stuck at 9 points while his foe quickly overhauled the deficit, gaining the upper hand at 11-9 with a body kick with 51 seconds left, prompting PH coach Gersohn Bautista to call a timeout in the hope of stopping the Azerbaijani’s momentum.
But the Azebarjaini veteran played his cards well, going into defensive mode as the Filipino jin desperately tried to come back as the seconds slowly dwindled away, earning his second penalty for the final point of the close match.
It was a disappointing loss for the Paralympic rookie, who began his campaign with a rousing 22-13 victory in the first round over Afghanistan’s Hadi Hassanzada, a member of the Paralympic Refugee Team.
Over at the La Defense Arena, veteran para swimmer Ernie Gawilan exited early, wallowing in 11th and last place in the men’s 200-meter individual medley SM 7 heats in a mediocre time of two minutes and 56.39 seconds, with the top eight qualifiers from two heats entering the finals.
“Sayang, sorry naano ako sa dulo. Kaya kong habulin nguni’t ayaw lumabas. Nag-change strategy kami ni coach (Gersohn Bauttista) pero hindi gumana. Feeling ko, kaya ko talaga,” said Ganapin with an apologetic look on his face.
“Sayang, World Cup champion ang naging kalaban ko, akala ko mapipitas ko,” rued the Marikikna native, who thanked the support of Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Paralympic Committee and Philippine Taekwondo Association for his stint here.
“Magaling din yung strategy nung coach ng Azerbaijan ng tumawag siya ng timeout para ma-disrupt yung momentum ni Allain. Beterano talaga,” said Bautista. “It was a good timeout by them so we call called our own timeout to break their own momentum.
“Kaya lang it didn’t pan out in the way that we envisioned it. We’ll do better.”
Despite the setback, Ganapin said that he enjoyed finally competing in the Paralympic Games after missing what was to be his debut in the competition in 2021 when he was sidelined by COVID-19 just before he was scheduled to fly to the Tokyo capital.
“Nag-enjoy ako rito dahil nagawa ko yung gusto kong laro,” noted the athlete, who also had abrupt exit in last year’s Hangzou Asian Para Games when he was disqualified for hitting the head of his foe.
On the other hand, national para swimming coach Tony Ong said that while they were aiming in the finals in the 200 IM “Ernie had some problems in breaststroke leg and did not like to push it.
“Anyway we tried to use this event as part of his tuneup for his favorite event, the 400-meter freestyle on Monday,” Ong said.
