JASMINE Alkhaldi will swim again in the Southeast Asian Games.
Alkhaldi earned a slot to the 29th SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur when she bagged her third silver medal on Saturday evening in the 48th Singapore National Age-Group Swimming Championships.
The 24-year-old Alkhaldi was second in the women’s 200-meter freestyle superfinals.
Her time of two minutes and 2.52 seconds was a qualifying B time clocking that also gave her a seat to the World Championships in Budapest this July.
It was Singapore’s Ting Wen Qah who won the gold in 2:01.79.
Ting, Alkhaldi and Thailand’s Natthanan Junkrajang have been dominating the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle events for the last five years in the Southeast Asian region.
And they are expected to fight it out for the gold again in the 29th SEA Games.
In the 2013 edition of the SEA Games, Alkhaldi won the gold against her two opponents.
But she was forced to give up the medal following a protest from Thailand because of a starting buzzer malfunction.
Philippine Swimming Inc. secretary general Lani Velasco said they have high hopes not only with Alkhaldi, but also on the performances of age-groupers Armand Pierre Chan and Gianna Vivienne Garcia.
Chan made a B finals appearance in both the 100-meter butterfly and the 400-m individual medley events for the boys 13-14 division, and was 13th and 8th place in the said events, respectively.
Garcia reached the A finals of the 100-m backstroke girls 13-14 with an 8th-place finish.