MANILA, Philippines – Philippine swimming ended their 29th Southeast Asian Games campaign with two additional medals on the last day of the 2017 swimming tournament, August 26 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Jasmine Alkhaldi garnered her third individual bronze medal, clocking 2:02.02 in the women’s 200m freestyle event. SEA Games debutante Nicole Oliva placed 4th behind Alkhaldi with a time of 2:02.62. 

James Deiparine looked impressive in the preliminaries as he advanced to the men’s 50m breaststroke final with a top seed time of 28.53. However, the Filipino-American swimmer fell short of breaking the Philippines’ gold medal drought since the 2009 edition as he settled for the silver medal finish with a final time of 28.60. 

The Philippine National swimming team hauled in a total of 7 medals in the 29th Southeast Asian Games swimming tournament. Only Deiparine was able to earn silver medals in both his 50m and 100m breaststroke events. SEA Games veterans Alkhaldi – who won in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly – and 200m backstroke specialist Roxanne Yu were the only ones who were able to bring home bronze medals in their individual events. 

The women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team composed of Alkhaldi, Oliva, Rosalee Santa Ana and Nikki Pamintuan were able to deliver a bronze medal in the relay event.

Two-time Olympian Jessie Lacuna failed to reach the podium in any of his events in this edition of the SEA Games. – Rappler.com