In a perfect world, great athletes are muscle-bound, strong, powerful, fast and gifted with an extraordinary skillset.
We find them on basketball courts, boxing rings, football pitches, athletics tracks and fairways.
They are the classic modern day specimen of Hercules and Hermes.
They are the envy of mediocre men and the eye candy of screaming collegialas.
The perfect world can be cruel. Biased for looks and brawns.
On the other hand, in a not so perfect world are heroes just as mighty and proud.
I am talking about athletes whose strengths do not rely on muscles, looks, dexterity, speed and strength. And in my book, they are as mighty as any gladiator. Brave, Courageous. Determined. Unruffled.
I am talking about our athletes with disabilities. Better referred to as differently-abled athletes if we are to prefix on the positive sphere. Whatever, they are heroes in their own right.
I remember the time I first met and interviewed Ernie Gawilan, two-time Paralympian and the first Filipino Asian Para Games gold medalist, and this was way before he became the face of para athletes in the country. Ernie’s greatness was founded on a deeply-motivated desire to overturn a bitter childhood into a life of recognition and self-worth. The financial rewards are but a bonus for a man who wanted to stay in the water to hide three underdeveloped extremities. It is in the water, neck high, that Ernie first felt the meaning of equality.
Three days ago, five not so ordinary men playing in a not so ordinary tournament scored a not so ordinary feat. The Philippines’ para chess team finished in the podium of the first ever FIDE Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Belgrade, Serbia.
Poland, the top seed, swept their assignments for a perfect 12 points in an elite field of 26 teams from 33 countries. IPCA placed second with 10 points while the Philippines, India, Serbia 1, and Uzbekistan wound up with 8 points each. After the tiebreak system was applied, Team Philippines was proclaimed third.
The team is composed of FIDE Master Sander Severino, NM Henry Roger Lopez, NM Darry Bernardo, playing coach NM James Infiesto, and Atty. Cheyzer Crystal Mendoza.
Two of the team members are from Davao and both are good friends of mine. Henry is a classmate in Law School at the University of Mindanao and James is a friend from way back our college days in Ateneo de Davao University. I am proud to have known these two legends.
More than being my friends, my respect to these athletes as esteemed as I respect anyone else who excel in sports. That’s because I see them as co-equals.
Is a third place finish of a Philippine team in the Chess Olympiad for the Differently-abled as prestigious as say, the third place finish of the Caloy Loyzaga and Frankie Rabat-led Philippine basketball team in the 1954 FIBA World Championship in Ginásio do Maracanãzinho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil?
Many would beg to disagree not because chess does not compare to basketball in terms of competitiveness, but because a competition among regular athletes as against special athletes are on different levels.
Unfair? Yes. But that’s the reality.
Even in our laws that extend incentives to achievements in sports pay less to athletes-with-disabilities (AWDs) than regular athletes.
RA 10699 or the Athletes Incentives Act was passed to include athletes-with-disabilities (AWDs) within the cash incentive scheme. It repealed RA 9064 which did not include AWDs in cash incentives for their athletic achievements unlike their able-bodied counterparts.
However, here’s the disparity. AWDs receive only half the incentives of regular athletes in competitions of similar level like the Olympics, Asian Games and SEA Games.
It is this glaring disparity that needs to be checked by level-headed and conscientious legislative minds. It’s about time we correct an injustice that has beleaguered sports for a long-time.
I know it’s going to be a lengthy debate so we will leave that to who ever picks up this narrative. What, to me, is important now is that in their not so perfect world, these gritty men of lesser abilities are worthy of scoring victories the able-bodied can. Like the latter, they are our sporting treasures.
Mabuhay ang atletang may kapansanan!
