Jennuel Booh De Leon and Arabella Nadeen Taguinota boosted Team Philippines’ campaign as they won their respective categories in Day 2 of the 45th Southeast Asia Age Group Swimming Championships Friday in Jakarta, Indonesia.
De Leon, 16, the pride of Aklan, dominated the boys’ 16-18 class 50m butterfly with a time of 25.40 seconds against Malaysian swimmer Bernie Elle Yang Lee, 25.49. Thanaseat Thanonthisitsakul of Thailand took the bronze (25.72).
The 14-year-old Taguinota doubled the celebration for Team Philippines which was formed through intensive national tryouts conducted by the new leadership of Philippine Aquatics, under the supervision of president Miko Vargas and secretary general Batangas 1st District Congressman Eric Buhain.
Taguinota of Pasig City posted a De time of 1:13.40 to win the girls’ 14-15 class 100m breaststroke against Vietnamese Thuy Hien Nguyen (1:14.07) and Natthakita Leekitchakorn of Thailand (1:14.50).
Estifano Joshua Ramos bagged the silver medal in the 16-18 boys 200m backstroke with a time of 2:10.39 behind gold medalist Tran Tuan Mai of Vietnam (2:06.10). Pasawat Kantakom of Thailand was third (2:13.06).
Aishel Cid Evangelista from Caloocan City captured his second bronze medal in the 13 & Under Boys 200m Freestyle with a time of 2:05.12 against Thailand’s Patchanan Chinmatchaya (1:59.13) and Suphakphong Nuntapiyawan (2:02.11).
“We’re thrilled and very excited. Doubly happy, because our diver also won a bronze medal. We got medals in two disciplines proving that we’re in the right direction as far as our grassroots program is concerned,” said Buhain on Joseph Reynado’s bronze medal finish against nine participants in the Boys Platform event (16-18).
The 16-year-old Reynado is one of the four divers that Buhain included in the team under the supervision of former SEAG medalist coaches Nino Carog and Marie Michie.
“Comparatively speaking, this is a good re-start for Philippine swimming. Hopefully, this will be a way for other swimmers who were not lucky in the tryouts to train harder and prepare themselves for the coming tournaments. We still have the Asian Age Group Championship in December in Clark City,” said the two-time Olympian and Philippine Sports Hall-of-Famer.
After two days of action, the Philippines collected a total of two gold, three silver, and seven bronze medals.
