National tankers 'drown' in FINA meet

MANILA, Philippines - National swimmers swam way below their own standards as they competed and were soundly beaten by world class opposition at the close of the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China yesterday, results made available to media showed.

Jasmine Alkhadi finished 40th in the 100m butterfly, her time of 1:03.69 even slower than the 1:03.60 she registered more than a year ago.

She also finished 44th in the 100m freestyle with a time of 58.02 seconds.

Jessie Lacuna competed in the 200m freestyle where he finished 40th with a time of 1:52.27, also slower than his time of 1:50.09 she registered in the Singapore Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

Charles Walker was 51st in the 100m freestyle with a time of 51.72 seconds..

All three are expected to compete in the Indonesia Southeast Asian Games in November.

The Philippine Amateur Swimming Association recently sent its national swimmers to the Southeast Asian Swimming Championships, the gauge of the relative strength of ASEAN members, where it finished sixth with four golds, five silvers and eight bronzes.

Thailand had a runaway tally of 46-41-27 gold-silver-bronze medals to win the championships. Singapore, a nation of two million, was second with 13-21-27, Indonesia third with 10-31-21, Vietnam fourth with 14-11-10 and Malaysia fifth with 9-9-4.

In explaining the dismal performance of its national swimmers, PASA president Mark Joseph put the blame on the lack of support from the Philippine Sports Commission.