Gary Bejino falls short of making 50-meter fly final

Gary Bejino finished 14th overall in the preliminary round of the 50-meter butterfly S6 event.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Gary Bejino's early elimination capped a tough Monday for the Philippine para-swimmers in the Tokyo Paralympics at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre.

Bejino failed to make it to the medal round of the 50-meter butterfly S6 event after a sluggish stint in the preliminary heats.

Bejino finished seventh in Heat 1 at the time of 36.14 seconds, but following the conclusion of Heat 2, he ended up 14th overall out of 16 para-swimmers, way out of the Top 8 cutoff.

Alejandro Rojas of Spain took the last seat in the medal race after his fifth-place finish in Heat 2 at the time of 33.87 seconds was good for eighth overall.

Rojas beat Brazil's Talisson Glock for the last spot in the final by just 0.02 seconds.

China's Wang Jingang topped the heats after clocking in at 30.81 seconds in Heat 2.

Heat 1 winner Nelson Crispin of Colombia took the second seed after swimming at a time of 31.66 seconds.

Completing the Final 8 are China's Jia Hongguang, Spain's David Sanchez, France's Laurent Chardard, Brazil's Gabriel Melone De Oliveira, and Kazakhstan's Yerzhan Salimgereyev.

The Philippine Paralympic team won't see action again until 8 a.m. Thursday when Bejino returns to action in Heat 1 of the men's 400-meter freestyle S6 preliminaries.

Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno