by Kristel Satumbaga
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The Philippines delivered two more gold medals in the 43rd Southeast Asian Age Group Swimming Championships at the Morodok Techo National Sports Complex here.
Fil-American Miranda Renner and Xiandi Chua ruled the girls 16-18 50-meter butterfly and 200m freestyle events, hiking the team’s gold tally to five golds with one day left in the competition.
Their efforts assured the country of bettering the 4-10-16 showing last year which was held at Trace Aquatics Center in Los Baños, Laguna.
Renner, whose mom hails from Davao, timed 28.33 seconds in besting Thailand’s Promtaung Parada (28.83sec) and Vietnam’s Ngoc Thi Tran (28.86sec) while Chua clocked 2 minutes and 5.63sec to prevail over Singapore’s Natalie Ho (2:06.28) and Indonesia’s Angel Yus (2:06.70).
“After yesterday (Friday), winning the gold has been rewarding,” said California-based Renner, referring to her one silver and one bronze-medal haul on opening day in the 50m free and 100m fly.
By finally winning a gold, Renner is hoping to earn a slot in the national team for the coming SEA Games which the country will be hosting late this year.
Providing silver medals for the country were Samantha Baños, Mishka Sy and Desirae Mangaoang while the bronze medal winners were Fil-Australian Georgia Peregrina and Ivo Enot.
Baños timed 29.02sec in the girls 14-15 50m fly, Sy clocked 2:24.26 in the girls 14-15 200m backstroke, and Mangaoang shared the silver with Vietnam’s Thu Phuong Anh Vu after registering identical 1:12.20 mark.
Peregrina posted 2:21.14 for the girls 16-18 200m backstroke bronze, Ivo Enot timed 2:20.61 for the boys 13-under 200m back.
It was Mangaoang’s second medal after giving the country’s first gold on Friday in the 50m breaststroke and Peregrina’s third medal after clinching one gold and one silver on opening day.
