MANILA – Zamboanga Sibugay bet Lhey Marie Manginsay clobbered national athlete Minnie Cadag, 3-0, Thursday to capture the women's singles Class 10 gold medal in the 8th Philippine National Para Games table tennis tournament at Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila.

“I played well today. I persisted to come here because it's my dream to play in the national team," the 21-year-old Manginsay said.

She teamed up with Marie Nina Carmelotes of Davao in the women's doubles, but they lost to Cadag and fellow national team mainstay Marie Eloise Sable in the finals.

In the mixed doubles, she and partner Rommel Lucencio bowed to Cadag and Linard Sultan in the championship match.

“It's my first time to join this tournament. I'm happy to win the singles. That's exactly what I came here for," Manginsay, who broke her right elbow after falling from a hanging bridge in 2019, said.

Observers say she is comparable to the late Josephine Medina, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Paralympic Games.

“It’s an honor to be compared to her. I will try to improve even more so that I can reach what she achieved," the junior Social Work student of Sibugay Technical Institute Inc. said. (PNA)