THE Philippine flag was hoisted as Sander Severino and Panabo City's Henry Roger Lopez captured the team gold medal of the men's PD (physical disability) standard event of the 7th Asean Para Games on Friday at the Billiard & Snooker National Stadium in Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar.
Severino and Lopez combined for a total of 13 points with teammate Alexis Elinon as they beat Indonesia's Sudirman and Azhar Panjaitan who tallied 10 points to clinch the silver.
Top-seeded Severino also annexed his second gold for topping the individual event with 5.5 points while second-seeded Lopez, who had 4.5 points, took the silver. Myanmar's Than Htike Zaw earned four points in the six-round Swiss System format competition to pocket the bronze.
Sudirman, Malaysia's Chua Heng Meng and Panjaitan wounded up in the next three places with similar 3.5 points.
Severino split the point with 13th-ranked Sudirman in the sixth round after beating Zaw in the fifth. He also outclassed Meng, Lopez, Panjaitan and Ho Hea King in earlier rounds.
Lopez, for his part, forced a standoff with Panjaitan in their sixth round clash following his fifth round win over eight-seeded Meng in the fifth.
In a Facebook chat interview, Lopez said he looks forward to give the country more medals.
"I'm playing in the rapid event tomorrow," Lopez said.
Meanwhile, National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) regional director James Infiesto, in a separate chat, said he's happy to be commissioned as an official in the ongoing chess competition of the Asean Para Games.
Infiesto, who hails from Davao City, said, "I'm just so blessed but this is not overnight. After years of hardwork for chess, ito ang bunga `coz I'm happy with what I'm doing. Chief arbiter ako dito ngayon."
He also had a stint in Abu Dhabi in December and in Incheon, Korea in June last year as match arbiter.