The Cadiz City government hailed its legless tanker, Zach Lucas Obsiama, who won three gold medals in swimming (Elementary Boys), during the recently concluded Palarong Pambansa-Para Games 2023 held in Marikina City.
Obsiama, a Grade 4 pupil at the Special Education (SPED) Center-Cadiz, prevailed in three events, 50-meter backstroke, 50-meter breaststroke, and 50-meter free style
The nine-year-old boy from Barangay Zone 4, Cadiz City, is legless since birth due to the Phocomelia Syndrome, a rare birth defect characterized, in most instances, by severe malformation of the extremities.
Infants born with this condition will have arms and/or legs that are severely shortened or sometimes completely absent.
However, Obsiama never thinks he is “special.”
He’s gutsy, instead.
After he took interest in swimming sometime in March this year, prior to the Provincial Meet, he practiced at the pool of Laura Beach Resort in Cadiz almost every day, which he was able to use free of charge.
However tragedy struck when his teacher-slash-swimming coach, Cherill Ducay, passed away just two weeks before the Palaro.
Ducay, also the focal person of SPED Center-Cadiz, succumbed to cardiac arrest in Cagayan de Oro City, before the National School Press Conference (NSPC) started on July 17.
Nonetheless, Mayor Salvador Escalante, Jr. was ecstatic with Obsiama’s feat.
Obsiama was feted during a flag ceremony of the city government at the Cadiz Arena on Monday, August 7.
The mayor also thanked SPED Center – Cadiz for honing Obsiama’s skill in swimming.
“For me, Zach ain’t just special, but an extraordinary kid,” Escalante said, adding, “Cadiznons, therefore, are so proud of him.”
“Indeed, he is our ‘peerless’ sports hero,” Escalante concluded in a statement issued by the City Public Information Office.*
