PARIS – Para wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan is still in but archer Agustina Bantiloc ended her bid in the 17th Paralympic Games here Friday.

By the skin of his teeth and under rainy weather, Mangliwan clocked a slow time of one minute and 5.79 seconds but finished seventh out of eight qualifiers at the sprawling Stade de France to slip into the finals of the men’s 400-meter T52 race set at 7:12 p.m. (1:12 p.m. Saturday, PH time).

At the Les Invalides shooting range, Bantiloc bowed out of contention, losing to Brazil’s Jane Karla Gogel 143-127 (25-29, 28-29, 24-29, 27-29, 23-27) in the opening knockout round of the women’s individual compound event in the stint backed by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Competing in the quadrennial Games for the third straight time, Mangliwan, racing in lane No. 6, actually finished fourth in the first heat where the top three finishers qualified, led by Belgian world champion Maxime Carabine who set a personal record of 54.48 seconds.

Placing second overall after topping the second heat was Tokyo Paralympic Games gold medalist Sato Tomoki of Japan (58.04) while compatriot Ito Tomoya (1:00.42) was third.

The Tabuk, Kalinga native’s heat time was a far cry from his personal best and national record of 1:01.35.

“Talagang mabagal dahil sa ulan. At medyo kinabahan din kasi ‘yung top three sa bawat heat ang pasok kaagad sa finals (Really slow because of the rain. And I’m a little bit nervous because the top three in each heat got outright finals slots),” Mangliwan said.

“Buti na lang nagdala ako ng special gloves para sa ulan. Pero mahirap rin talaga ma-control ‘yung gamit kong (It’s good that I was able to bring my special gloves for the rain. But it is really hard to control my) racer,” he added.

Mangliwan is out for redemption after being disqualified in the 2021 Tokyo finals for crossing the wrong lane.

“If Jerrold is able to match his personal best, he might have a fighting chance of a podium finish,” Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) president Mike Barredo said. “We continue to believe in Mangliwan and his fighting spirit.”

Barredo was joined by PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann, PPC secretary general Goody Custodio and chief of mission Ral Rosario during Mangliwan’s event.