Alkhaldi boosts RP romp with 2 golds

LOS BAÑOS , Philippines  – Records came in abundance yesterday at the start of the 34th Southeast Asia Age-Group Swimming Championships at the Trace Aquatics Center here.

A total of 19 marks were set out of the 32 events contested on the cloudy day, and the Philippines joined the record spree as Jasmine Alkhaldi, Dorothy Grace Hong and Banjo Borja ruled their favorite events.

The tall and lovely Alkhaldi won two gold medals. She clocked 26.90 seconds in the girls (15-17) 50-meter freestyle to break the previous record of 27.04 set by Shu Yong Ho of Singapore in 2005.

Alkhaldi, gearing up for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in November, also won the gold in the 400m freestyle with a time of 4:28.00. However, she failed in her bid for a triple when she finished second to Vietnam’s Kim Tuy Nguyen in the 100m freestyle.

“I wanted that gold because that’s the same event that I won last year. But she was really fast,” said Alkhaldi, referring to the Vietnamese who took the gold in 1:02.09, just a stroke ahead of the Filipina’s 1:03.60.

Hong set a new record in the 100m backstroke with a time of 1:05.08, surpassing the 2006 record of Singapore’s Chai Sook Fun (1:05.90). The third record for the Philippines was delivered by Borja in the 200m individual medley.

Borja had a time of 2:09.06 to break the two-year-old record of Thailand’s KH Nattapong (2:10.10).

Jhessie King Lacuna won two golds for the day, in the boys 50m freestyle (24.44) and 400m freestyle (4:04.13). The seventh gold for the hosts in opening day was provided by Keiza Sarmiento in the girls (13-14) 100m backstroke.

“We’ve already more than doubled our gold medal output of three last year in Kuala Lumpur,” said RP aquatics chief Mark Joseph, who is counting on probably a handful more from the country’s top bets.

Thailand won 11 gold medals to start off their romp in this three-day event where 261 swimmers from eight of the 10 Southeast Asian countries are participating. And six of them came in record fashion.

Sarit Tiewong set a new record in the boys (13-14) 400m freestyle (4:06.00), Phawin Chaisriha in the boys (15-17) 50m breaststroke (29.79), Kitta Sricharoenboon in the boys (13-14) 100m butterfly (57.39), Sarisa Suwannachet in the girls (11-12) 100m butterfly (1:04.39), Jiarapon Sankhawat in the boys (11-12) 200m individual medley (2:16.73) and Suwannachet a second one in the 200m IM (2:23.65).

Malaysia won four golds for the day, all of them in record fashion courtesy of Erika Chia Kong (girls 13-14 50m breaststroke, 33.53), Chong Heng Tang (boys 11-12 50m breast, 31.01) and Ian James Barr in the boys 13-14 100m back (59.54) and 200m IM (2:10.81).

Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam accounted for the six other records set in opening day.