Three tankers pass grade for 2010 YOG

SINGAPORE – After bitter losses in various fronts the last few days, the Philippines found some reason to smile on a rainy Sunday when three of its swimmers met the qualifying standards of their respective events for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

Jasmine Alkhaldi, a precocious 16-year-old, clocked 59.87 seconds in the girls’ 100-meter freestyle qualifying heat in the morning and made it to the semis scheduled last night at the Singapore Sports School Champions Way pool.

Her time was just a fraction inside of the YOG standard of 1:00.3. She was also set to compete in the finals of the 50m freestyle last night after submitting a qualifying time of 27.56, almost two seconds off the top two qualifiers from Singapore.

“I’m grateful for this opportunity,” said Alkhaldi a few hours before the 50-m finals.

Jessie King Lacuna, 16, also made it to the inaugural Youth Olympics, the next big event to be hosted by Singapore after the ongoing Asian Youth Games.

Lacuna had a time of 53.47 in the boys’ 100-m freestyle which surpassed the YOG qualifying time of 53.50. He also made it to the semis where he hopes to excel and make it to the finals. He has the second best time in semifinal 1.

The third RP swimmer to earn a slot to the YOG in August next year was Banjo Borja, eighth in the boys’ 200-m IM finals at 2:11.60, better than the qualifying time of 2:11.93. Korea’s Jung Won Yong won the gold in 2:09.92.

Alkhaldi, Lacuna and Borja all train under Pinky Brosas at the RP Center of Excellence in Los Baños, Laguna, although the 17-year-old Borja honed his skills at the San Pablo Swim Club.

Last April, Lacuna also earned a stint in the 200-m freestyle of the YOG.

“I want to win a medal that’s why I will do my best to qualify in the finals tomorrow,” said Lacuna, a 15-year-old from Bulacan.

Hannah Dato finished seventh in the finals of the girls’ 200-m individual medley last night with a time of 2:28.01, way behind the top finishers – Korean Kim Seo Yeong who clocked 2:15.17 and Chen Xiao Jun of China who had 2:18.29.

Dato’s time in the final is slower than her qualifying time of 2:27.62.

Also racing in the finals of the girls’ 50-m backstroke today is Palarong Pambansa standout Dorothy Hong who qualified with her time of 31.34 seconds, good for fifth among eight finalists. She is also going for a slot in the YOG.

“We must use Asian and world standards as our benchmark and not Southeast Asian levels,” added Joseph, whose swimmers have provided some hope going into the last two days of this event featuring the best 14-17 (years) athletes from Asia.

Last Saturday, the Philippines took a couple of bitter losses in boys’ basketball, and along with it came previous setbacks in table tennis, diving, beach volleyball and shooting. The Philippines won a silver medal, courtesy of Stephanie Cimatu, in girls’ javelin where only two were entered.

Bowler Jose Collins wound up fourth after a big roll in the first block of the boys’ master final with 1788 pinfalls. He will shoot for a medal today against rivals like Peerawich Rungcharoen of Thailand who paced the event with 1863, Korea’s Kyung-Hwan Choi (1835) and Basil Low of Singapore (1835).