Gary Bejino stumbles in Paralympic swimming IM heats

Gary Bejino bowed out of competition in the men's 200-meter individual medley. PPC (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--The Philippines' campaign in the Tokyo Olympics did not go off to a good start as para swimmer Gary Bejino missed out on making the men's 200-meter individual medley final after a sluggish swim in the heats on Thursday at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Bejino finished last among 17 participants after compiling the swimming times among the three preliminary heats.

Bejino, who played in Heat 2, clocked in at three minutes and 17.19 seconds, way behind heat winner Andrei Granichka of Russia, who finished a shade under 2:46.

Granichka will vie for a medal in the championship round later Thursday alongside Colombia's Nelson Crispin, who had the fastest time in the preliminaries after going first in Heat 3 at 2:43.07, Jia Hongguang, Yang Hong, and Wang Jingang of China, Juan Gutierrez of Mexico, Talisson Glock of Brazil, and Zach Shattuck of the United States.

Bejino still has another crack at gold as he will be in Heat 1 of the 50-meter butterfly preliminaries at 8:36 a.m. Monday (Philippine Time).

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