PSL embarks on year-round talent search

MANILA, Philippines - Driven by the success of the first Sen. Nikki Coseteng Swimming Championships held last December, the Philippine Swimming League, in coordination with the Diliman Preparatory School, is embarking on a more comprehensive talent-search program covering the entire year.

With a theme “Kung Walang Kurakot, Walang Kulelat,”   inspired by President P-Noy’s “Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap,” the 12-month program started yesterday with the PSL/E.S. Galeno competition at the Amoranto Stadium swimming pool and will end in December with the PSL/DPS Christmas Fun swimfest.

Most outstanding swimmers were Inaki Lorbes, 10, from Susan Papa Swim Academy in the 10-years-old boys category, and Joshua Eldridge Ching, 16, in the 16-years-old category.

Lorbes won in 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 100m breast and 50m free. Lorbes achieved the AAAA rating after clocking 35.3 seconds in the butterfly.

Ching won in 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly, 50m back and 50m free.

St. Jude, which had the biggest entry, was overall champion.

Other outstanding swimmers were Charles Dylan Chia, Lanz Alonzo Ventabal, Robin Serranillo, Dave Angelo Tiquia, Stephen de Jesus, Rois Custodio, Jose Gabriel Lavina, Michael Anthony Sangalang, Henry Openiano, Kyle Joshua Wong and Jeron Mercader in the boys division, and Valerie Tantuachut, Juliana Esmero, Ninel Ibarra, Kara Colaste, Erin Gallego, Maria Siso, Loty Tolentino, Patricia Pangan, Jemcy de la Cruz, Dennis Tiquia, Arlyn Arcadio and Diane Chiong in the girls side.

Highlight of the ambitious program, according to former Sen. Coseteng during Friday’s SCOOP Sa Kamayan weekly session, is the two-leg All-Star University Swimming Challenge featuring the best pool sharks from the UAAP, NCAA, SCUAA and other school leagues interested to participate.

 Also scheduled, Coseteng and PSL president Susan Papa jointly announced during the forum, sponsored by Coca-Cola Export, FILA and UNTV, are the second and third legs of the Sen. Nikki Coseteng championships, which had produced more than a dozen local-born talents they hope will wear the national colors in future international competitions. 

“The results of our initial attempt to discover local-born talents is hard to ignore. We have proven in that one-day meet held last December at the Rizal Memorial pool that the Philippines is not short of local-born talents whom we can develop to become champions again, not only in the Southeast Asian Games, but in the Asian and Olympic Games as well,” Coseteng told her audience in the session.

 “That is why we are very thankful to the Philippine Sports Commission, particularly chairman Richie Garcia for allowing us, for the first time, to use the Rizal Memorial pool, a privilege not granted us by the previous commissions because of the opposition of the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association leadership,” she said.

 “The days of using Fil-foreign talents in international meets which the PASA had resorted to the past several decades should have ended in last year’s SEA Games in Indonesia where our swimming team sent by PASA went home with a big flat egg, meaning zero and kulelat, (last),” the feisty Coseteng, the first and only woman to have owned a team in the PBA, stressed.

 “We will continue producing fresh and young talents from the provinces and it’s up to PASA and the Philippine Olympic Committee if they will recognize our efforts by recognizing those whom we will identify,” she said. “If they won’t, that would be tantamount to betrayal of national interest for which they will be answerable to the Filipino nation.” 

“Should the two entities still deny us recognition, we have the University Games where we can compete to bring honor to the Filipino race,” Coseteng said in reference to the Universiade, counterpart of the International Olympic Committee where the POC is affiliated. “The Universiade, you see, has also been regionalized up to the Asian and Southeast Asian levels,” she bared.

 “Basta kami we believe in the proposition na there is no substitute to a strong and effective talent search program to develop the really good athletes, especially in swimming. We believe in the Filipinos’ capabilities to bring honor to the country in whatever sports they are involved in,” she said. “That’s why we work this hard – we believe in the Filipino’s capacity for greatness.”

To achieve the program’s grassroots format, Papa, an Olympian and an Asian Games medalist, said the project has been extended to the Southern and Northern Luzon provinces and to as far as Cagayan de Oro.

 Having been affiliated with the Federation of Schools Sports Federation which is recognized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), Papa said the PSL has the sole authority to accredit teams to the University Games.