Philippine tankers land 27 golds in Dubai long course swim

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Swimming League (PSL) copped 13 more gold medals highlighted by a record-breaking performance from Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh in the girls’ 12-year division of the 2018 Hamilton Aquatics Winter Long Course Swimming Championships held at the Hamilton Aquatics Center in Dubai, UAE Sunday.

Overall, PSL pocketed 27 gold, 22 silver and five bronze medals in the two-day meet that drew more than 500 tankers from 22 countries.

Mojdeh, the reigning Palarong Pambansa most bemedalled athlete, registered two minutes, 22.31 seconds in the 200m butterfly to reset her own Philippine national junior record of 2:25.82 she submitted in the 2018 Middle East Open Swimming Championship in February also in Dubai.

“She’s really improving from time to time. Our training program for our swimmers is really working and we won’t be surprised if she makes it to the Olympics at the very young age. We are so proud of our swimmers,” said PSL president Susan Papa.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary College-Parañaque standout closed out her campaign with three more gold medals in the 100m butterfly (1:05.17), 400m individual medley (5:23.49) and 50m breaststroke (36.34).

Reigning Swimmer of the Year Marc Bryan Dula of Masville Elementary School-Parañaque was also untoppable as he claimed four more gold medals on top of a silver medal in the boys’ 11-year category.

Dula topped the 400m freestyle (5:00.85), 50m butterfly (30.37), 100m backstroke (1:11.92) and 50m freestyle (28.00) then placed second in the 200m IM (2:36.71) to become the most bemedalled swimmer in the tournament.

He swept all his four events – 50m backstroke (32,85), 100m butterfly (1:07.63), 200m butterfly (2:36.17) and 200m backstroke (2:35.55) – in the opening day Saturday.

Jie Angela Talosig added two golds in 200m freestyle (2:18.66) and 100m freestyle (1:04.24), and a silver in 50m breaststroke (36.72) of the girls’ 12-year division while John Alexander Talosig chipped in one gold in 400m freestyle (4:23.44) and one silver in 200m IM (2:20.87) of the boys’ 14-year class.

“It was a great campaign. We are so overwhelmed with the results and we want to delicate this victory to our country. These kids have sacrificed a lot to bring honors to our country. We would also like to thank the Filipino community in Dubai especially PSL director for Dubai Chapter Francis Segui,” said Papa. 

Coaches Alex Papa, Marlon Dula, Bob Palacios and Virgie de Luna handled the 14-tanker delegation along with PSL operations manager Stephanie Sablan and PSL NCR director Joan Mojdeh.

Francisco Cordero III collected two silver medals in the boys’ 12-year 50m butterfly (31.75) and 200m breaststroke (2:47.22), while Marcus De Kam (boys’ 13-year 400m freestyle, 4:37.30), Yohan Mikhail Cabana (boys’ 13-year 100m backstroke, 1:08.16) and Cyryll Vallar (boys’ 15-year 400m freestyle (4:28.54) won one silver each on the final day.

Claiming bronze medals were Aishel Cid Evangelista in the boys’ 8-year 100m backstroke (1:22.38) and 200m IM (2:54.86), and Albert Sermonia 2nd in the boys’ 13-year 200m IM (2:29.43).