PASA chief predicts 7-gold haul in SEAG

BACOLOD CITY —POC-recognized swimming association president Mark Joseph predicted a haul of no less than seven gold medals by the hosts in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games aquatic events.

Joseph said Filipino swimmers could easily top their three-gold harvest in Vietnam in 2003 as they will surely be inspired by the hometown crowd in this year’s SEAG slated Nov. 27-Dec. 5 in various venues in the country.

The newly-installed swimming top honcho said the Philippines could produce at least three golds in swimming, also three from diving and one from water polo at the ultra-modern Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.

"It is going to be a lot different now because we are competing in front of the hometown crowd,’’ said Joseph who presided over the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association’s board meeting here coinciding with the national age-group competitions.

Joseph said swimming could deliver more in the SEAG if Fil-Americans Jaclyn Pangilinan and JB Walsh come over and compete for the country.

Pangilinan broke the national records in 100m and 200m breaststroke while Walsh placed 34th in 200 butterfly in the Athens Olympics.

Joseph said Pangilinan, Walsh and US-based Carlo Piccio have been updating him of their training in the US and they may be tapped to train in China under the RP-China sports partnership program.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Games silver medalist Marichi Gandionco and five fellow age-groupers gained automatic slots in the national training team after hitting the qualifying times in their respective events in the national tryouts being held at the Panaad Sports Complex here.

A member of the 4x200m freestyle team that placed second in the Hanoi pool, Gandionco, from Alabang, surpassed the category 1 time of 4:33.52 in the 400m freestyle by clocking 4:32.45.

Also making the grade were Skip Jock Swim Team’s Ryan Arabejo and Chrizel Lagunday, and San Beda’s Ferdinand Frigillana in the boys’ 15-17 400m freestyle, Region XI’s Nukita Decera in the boys’ 13-14m free and Naga’s Gerard Bordado in the boys’ 15-17 50m breaststroke.

The six tankers also assured themselves of berths in the coming Asean age-group championships in Brunei in June.

Those who didn’t make the criteria can still gain inclusion in the national team, according to Joseph, if they rank among the top 2 in the country and can break the fifth best time in the SEA age-group championships.