MANILA, Philippines - Filipino swimmers gained eight Youth Olympic Games (YOG) qualifying times at the close of the 41st Singapore national age-group swimming championships yesterday.
Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi hit one more YOG standard each and Banjo Borja earned one in the event serving as qualifier for the 2011 YOG.
On the final day of competition, Lacuna, Alkhaldi and Borja hit YOG B qualifying times. Lacuna achieved the feat in 200m butterfly (2:04.64), Alkhaldi in 200m breaststroke (2:25.26) and Borja in 50m freestyle (26.80).
Lacuna and Alkhaldi were to return in the finals last night as top seeds in their respective events.
On the penultimate day of competitions Saturday, Lacuna won the gold medal in 100m freestyle while Alkhaldi and Jose Gonzalez captured the bronze medals in 100m freestyle and 200 backstroke, respectively.
Lacuna, Alkhaldi and Gonzalez won medals while achieving YOG qualifying times, making it a total of eight YOG standards for Team RP.
The RP team had a 2-1-5 gold-silver-bronze haul in the swimfest attracting seven nations including powerhouse Japan. – Nelson Beltran