KUALA LUMPUR – Fil-American James Deiparine finished second in the 50m breaststroke and became the only two-silver medalist from the Philippines at the close of swimming competitions at the National Aquatic Center at the Bukit Jalil Saturday night.
With his silver medal in the 100m breaststroke, the six-foot Deiparine, born of a Filipino mother from Quezon City and half-American, half-German father from Texas, won the only two silver medals, which came with three bronze medals from Olympian Jasmine Alkhaldi in the 100m free and 50m fly and the 4x200 free – with Nicole Oliva and Rosalee Santa Ana –and Roxanne Ashley Yu in the 200m back.
The silver medal finish, which was not entirely expected, came after a similar failed bid in the 100m breaststroke where he finished eighth in the heats, barely qualifying for the finals and still won the silver in 1:02:11.
Still it was a fine farewell performance for the 24-year-old Deiparine, a biology graduate from California Polytechnic, who took a leave from a law firm where he works as legal aide to fulfill the dream of competing for the land of his maternal ancestors.
Deiparine’s feat was an achievement for a small 12-member team.
Alkhaldi, who skipped the 100m fly finals to focus on her last two freestyle events, failed to medal in either the women’s 200m and 50m free.
She placed fourth in 200m free in 2:02.62 behind Thai bronze medalist Nathanan Junkaranjang (2:01.34). The University of Hawaii graduate was also eased out of the podium in the 50m race by Thailand’s Jenjira Sri-Saard, who bagged the bronze in 25.63 seconds to the Filipina’s 25.67.
Meanwhile, the national men’s water polo squad, which trained intensively in Portugal and Spain as part of its SEA Games buildup, wound up fourth in the five-nation men’s water polo tournament with a record of one win and three losses.
The Filipino synchronized swimmers, who were sent to the world championships in Budapest, Hungary last month for their only international exposure before the Games, also failed to contend for a medal in all of the five events they were entered.