Tankers still to reach peak form for SEAG

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Aquatic Sports Association (PASA) president Mark Joseph yesterday defended the performance of the Filipino swimmers in the recent 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai.

The Filipinos, including Jasmine Alkhadi, Jessie Lacuna and Charles Walker, failed to even match their best times and finished below the standings, but Joseph said it’s not the true measure of their status.

“For this time of the season, the swimmers are still peaking for the SEA Games, hence them being a second or so off their best times,” said Joseph of his tankers who will vie in the SEA Games in November.

Alkhadi finished 40th in the 100m butterfly, her time of 1:03.69 even slower than the 1:03.60 she registered more than a year ago, and was 44th in the 100m freestyle with a time of 58.02 seconds.

Lacuna competed in the 200m freestyle where he finished 40th with a time of 1:52.27, also slower than his previous best of 1:50.09 while Walker was 51st in the 100m freestyle with a time of 51.72 seconds.

Joseph said these three swimmers are not expected to reach their peak three months before the SEA Games, and are in fact doing well.

Alkhadi is off for scholarship at the University of Hawaii while Lacuna is headed for the Olympic Training Center at Bolles. Walker is studying sports science at University of the Philippines under Hungarian-trained coach Archie Lim.

“Remember these are just kids out of high school, competing against the best and richest swimming countries in the world. In Shanghai, they competed against swimmers 10 years older and more experienced than them,” said Joseph.

The PASA chief also clarified that the Philippine Sports Commission has been very supportive of the Filipino swimmers.

“The PSC has supported them all the way since 2006 so that now we have home grown young talents. But it won’t be so easy for them to fill the shoes of Miguel Molina and our four other senior swimmers that retired last year,” he said.

Joseph thanked PSC chief Richie Garcia for the support to PASA, including the funding of the team that went to Shanghai.