Female martial artist, Francine Padios, bags an inspiring victory for the country at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam—all for the love of her father
Aklan native, Mary Francine Padios, has made headlines the past few days—all for good reason. The 18-year-old martial artist recently bagged the Philippines' first gold medal at the Southeast Asian (SEA) games. Her win, which was witnessed in Hanoi, Vietnam, marked an inspiring first for the event. Padios had proven herself in the art of pencak silat (an Indonesian martial art), where she bagged gold in the women's seni tunggal single category at the Bac Tu Liem Gymnasium. She beat out her top competitor by an incredibly narrow margin; Padios had scored a 9.960 while Arum Sari of Indonesia consequently won silver with a 9.945 score.
Read more: These Asian F1 Drivers Are About to Make History
Malacañan has already congratulated Padios on her win last May 11, 2022.
Padios' inspiring win was all for one very important person: her own father, who was in a tragic car accident and is now comatose. The athlete has been very open about naming him as her inspiration for winning—her prize money will also go towards her father's hospital bills. At the moment, she stands to receive Php300,000 from the Philippine Sports Commission.
Her father's accident had taken place while Padios was in a training bubble. She had been allowed to leave the bubble to visit her father, but eventually returned to train, determined to win for him. Though her father is still in comatose, there is no doubt that he is incredibly proud of Padios' triumph for herself, her family, and for the Philippines.