BY REY C. LACHICA
HANGZHOU, China – Incredibly proud.
That was how Fil-Canadian swimmer Kayla Sanchez felt after making two in a row in the 19th Asian Games here.
Not in the podium but for setting new Philippine records in two times she saw action.
In Monday’s women’s 50-meter backstroke, she finished 6th among the finalists but was happy to better the PH mark after posting 28.60 seconds, a time enough to sink the 28.95 mark set by Teia Salvino in the Cambodia SEA Games only last May.
“It’s not a medal but I’m incredibly proud. I would like to say this is the new era of my career and to start it in a new national record is very exciting,” said the 22-year-old Sanchez who helped Canada win two medals in the Tokyo Games last year.
She is hoping that her new personal milestone would add fuel to her drive to finally nail the big one.
A gold in Asiad could be a dream come true.
“I would have loved to bring home a medal in this event for the Philippines. But what I think is important is I’m never gonna give up and I will keep on pushing forward.”
The group swam like they were possessed that even Salvino bettered her record by clocking 28.79 despite finishing dead last.
Just as everyone expected, the mighty Chinese swimmers finished 1-2 with Wang Xueer beating Wan Letian in another classic duel in their personal duel.
On Sunday, Sanchez also powered the country’s 4x100m freestyle to a new PH mark despite finishing only fifth in a race also won by the Chinese quartet
Sanchez joined forces with Salvino, Xiandie Chua and Jasmine Alkhaldi in logging 3:44.31 that eclipsed the PH record of 3:47.05 which were set by the quarter of Alkhaldi, Remedy Rule, Chua and Nicole Oliva in the Manila edition of SEA Games four years ago.
While a medal remains elusive for this swimmer with a pleasant demeanor, Sanchez is pleading to her Filipino fans to be more patient, saying: “I hope you believe in me because I’m having the best time being able to represent the Philippines and be a leader of this team.”
