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MANILA, Philippines – Philippine swimming notched its best finish in 9 years in the Southeast Asian Age Group Swimming Championships, matching its target of 8 gold medals in the 43rd edition of the competition held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Although it failed to hit a podium finish in the overall standings, the national junior swimming team managed to double its gold medal haul from last year’s tournament held in Manila.
The Philippines improved to 5th place off 8 golds, 13 silvers and 9 bronze medals, while resetting 1 senior national record and 5 junior records.
“Our swimmers and coaches have worked very hard and persevered—putting in long hours of training and making personal sacrifices to attain this level of achievement,” said Philippine Swimming Inc president Lani Velasco.
“I am so proud of this amazing achievement and I’m confident that this is only the beginning of more good things to come.”
Leading the 70-tanker contingent was Desirae Mangaoang with 3 golds, 1 silver and one senior national record.
On the opening day, the US-based swimmer clocked 33.20 seconds in the girls 16-18 50m breaststroke that smashed the senior national record previously held by Imelda Corazon Wistey (33.46s), while also resetting Raine Gavino’s junior national record (33.56s).
Mangaoang was also a member of the relay team composed of Mishka Sy, Samantha Baños and Jeremiah Tandingan that bagged the gold in the women’s 4x100m medley relay with a time of 4 minutes, 19.25 seconds.
The quartet narrowly missed matching the SEA Age Group record of 4:18.91.
Mangaoang’s stellar performance in the tournament boosted her bid to nab one of the 5 slots available in the girls team set to see action in the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in August, as well as the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Homegrown talent Xiandi Chua remains in contention for the SEA Games team after clinching the gold off her personal best of 2:05.63 in the girls 16-18 200m freestyle.
Chua wrapped up her age group campaign with 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. – Rappler.com
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