Para swimmers, rising pug lead Philippines sports’ October achievers

MANILA, Philippines — Philippines aces opened the last quarter of 2026 with strong performances filled with glowing achievements and feel-good stories. 

And leading the way were para swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Ariel Joseph Alegarbes and undefeated boxing prospect Carl Jammes Martin.

Paralympian Gawilan swam to glory in the Men's 400m Freestyle S7 at the 5th Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya – retaining the title he won in the previous edition in Hangzhou – and added a silver in the men’s 200m Individual Medley SM7. 

Alegarbes conquered the men’s 100m backstroke S14 event as he took the cue from Gawilan and helped the Philippine delegation in Japan to a two-gold, two-silver and three-bronze haul. 

Igorot pride Martin hammered out a career-defining split decision win over highly-favored Mexican Alan David Picasso to grab the WBC silver featherweight title in the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez-Christian Mbili super-middleweight event in Riyadh.

In beating Picasso, the 27-year-old Igorot boxer, now 29-0, declared his readiness to take on more big-time gigs against rated boxers in the featherweight division or even challenge for the WBO super-bantamweight crown. 

Martin, together with APG heroes Gawilan and Alegarbes, shared top billing as the Philippine Sportswriters Association’s best performers for the month of October.

There were several notable achievers in other fronts, too.

 Sisters Rose Jean and Rosegie Ramos each landed a podium finish in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in China.

Competing in the women’s 49-kg class, Rose Jean, 20, copped the bronze in snatch with her 86-kg lift while Rosegie, 22, duplicated feat with her third-best 97-kg effort in snatch over in the women’s 53kg division.

Though short of a medal, Albert Ian delos Santos, 20, set two new junior world records (187kg in clean and jerk and 331kg total) as he finished fourth in the high-competitive men’s 70kg competition.

Grandmaster Rogelio "Joey" Antonio Jr. continued to bring honor to the country at 64, topping the 34th Erkel Memorial Blitz Chess Championship in Gyula, Hungary with 6.5 points.

Rising pool star AJ Manas, 19, showed his vast potential by taking runnerup honors in the Qatar 10-ball World Cup, matching his second-place finish at the WPA Men’s Doubles 10-ball World Championship in partnership with Carlo Biado a few weeks earlier in Bali.

Gawilan and Alegarbes’ APG medal-winning teammates in the Japan APG - para table tennis silver medalists Lhey Marie Manginsay and Jan Wilfred Redulla (Mixed Doubles Class XD17) and bronze earners Ma. Ravina Carpena (women’s shot put F20), King James Reyes (men’s 1500m T46) and Raemond Adefuin (men's 100m breaststroke SB6) — likewise deserved places in the honor roll. (PSA pool story)

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