DOHA-BASED Arvin Taguinota and her elder sister Arabella won a lot of medals and broke several records in the recent swimming competitions of the Philippine National Games-Batang Pinoy Championships.
Their productive performance during the five-day encouraged them to return in two years to compete again.
The Taguinotas’ medal haul helped Pasig take overall second place in the Batang Pinoy’s standings.
Pasig emerged with 57 golds, 56 silvers and 74 bronze medals, behind Baguio, which came on top with its 82-52-59 gold-silver-bronze effort.
“I will be back,” said the 12-year-old Taguinota, who was one of three most decorated athletes in the Philippine Sports Commission-organized event, together with fellow swimmer Heather White and gymnast Karl Eldrew Yulo.
Taguinota expressed his desire to be back and swim again for Pasig after he earned his seventh gold in the 12-under boys’ 100-meter butterfly.
The young Taguinota checked in at 1:03.38, a time below the national mark of 1:07.78 from Kyle Libat in 2014.
Taguinota’s six other golds came from Pasig’s conquest in the 200-meter freestyle relay stint, the 200-meter backstroke, the 200-meter medley relays, the 100-meter backstroke, the 50-meter backstroke, and the 200-meter IM.
He also eclipsed existing Philippine marks in the 200-meter IM, the 50-meter backstroke, the 100-meter backstroke and the 100-meter butterfly.
Since he started swimming at six years old, Arvin and his sister Arabella have been exposed to coaches who helped age-group swimmers develop their speed when they compete in the Doha area.
“Competition is harder in the Philippines, because in Qatar, it’s a small country, so there’s not a lot of faster swimmers there. Some re not that strong, but the swimmers here are very strong,” said Taguinota.
The 15-year-old Arabella also contributed to Pasig’s medal output with three golds off record-breaking performances, to go with a silver and a bronze, in the 13-15 year old girls action.
Arabella’s last gold-medal win came in the 50-meter breaststroke with a 33.99-second showing, which was three seconds below Cy de los Santos’ 36.30-second clocking.
Low times which broke the marks in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke were also submitted by Arabella.
“It’s been very exciting. A lot of people have encouraged me and motivated me in my swims,” said Arabella, whose dad works in Qatar Energy.
Pasig head coach Jessie King Lacuna said he was amazed at the showing of Pasig, which only earned two gold medals the last time around.
“We had a great turnout of medals. And it’s all for the kids,” said Lacuna.