Medina cops table tennis gold in PNPG

World Paralympic Table Tennis Championship-bound Josephine Medina handily ruled the women’s T 7-8 table tennis event in Day 2 of the PSCPhilspada National Paralympic Games at the Marikina Sports Center yesterday.

Medina swept all her three matches in straight sets to retain her singles crown in the meet organized by the Philippine Sports Association for Disabled Athletes and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

A bronze medalist in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Medina beat Purificacion Mingarine, 11-2, 11-1, 11-1, then the 48-year-old native of Oas, Albay routed Mary Joan Paz, 11-1, 11-2, 11-2, and Derina Quitoriano, 11-1, 11-1, 11-1, to nail her first gold in the fiveday sportfest serving as national team tryouts to the Asian Paralympic Games in Indonesia in October.

“It is a great honor and privilege for me to qualify for the worlds since this is what I was aspiring for four years ago,” said Medina. “This is like the Paralympic Games since it is held only once every four years.”

The polio-stricken athlete said that she clinched her spot at the worlds by bagging a bronze medal in the Thailand Open last October.

Medina will thus become the first Filipino disabled table tennis player to see action in the sixth edition of the World Para Table Tennis Championships set Oct. 15-21 in Slovenia.

Currently ranked No. 7 in the world, she will be among 12 players from all over the globe who will compete in the week-long championship almost immediately after participating in the Asian Paralympic Games in Indonesia in early October.

But Medina’s campaign in the National Para Games is far from over as she is scheduled to compete in the team event for her adopted city of Marikina today.