Guerrero saves day for Pinoy swimmers

Sydney Olympics veteran Jenny Rose Guerrero saved the day for the RP swim team by capturing the country’s lone gold medal in Sunday’s start of the pool events in the 11th Asean University Games at the Rizal Memorial pool.

The 18-year-old Guerrero dominated her favorite event - the women’s 200-m breaststroke where she clocked two minutes and 44.89 seconds for the gold. Her victory came on a day powerhouse Thailand ruled Day One of the swimming competition.

So overpowering was Guerrero that her winning time was way ahead of Thailand’s Tachaporn Iamsanitamorn (2:49.64) and Vietnam’s Nguyen Phoung Thrang (2:97.09).

But Guerrero’s triumph was overshadowed by the Thais, who jumpstarted their title-retention bid by winning seven of the eight gold medals disputed on opening day, including one by Guerrero’s victim - Iamsanitamorn - in the women’s 100-m butterfly.

Chorkaew Choompol emerged as Thailand’s first double gold medalist after she topped the women’s 400-m freestyle and 100-m backstroke in lopsided fashion.

Choompol registered a time of 4:35.43 in the freestyle event before bagging her second gold in the backstroke with a time of 1:09.29.

Thailand’s other gold medalists were Wattapong Tongpawee (men’s 1,500-m freestyle), Piyawat Kraithumjthkul (men’s 100-m backstroke), Vorrawatti Aumphiwan (men’s 200-m breaststroke) and Teonpong Boonsmikatsawad (men’s 100-m butterfly).