By MARK REY MONTEJO
NEW CLARK CITY – Jamesray Ajido emerged as the most decorated member of Team Philippines as he won a silver medal this time while Heather White delivered another bronze at the close of swimming competition in the 11th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships here at the New Clark City on Thursday, Feb. 29.
The 15-year-old Ajido claimed his third medal after finishing second in the 12-14 boys’ 50m butterfly with a time of 25.50 seconds just a little short of the golden performance of Japan’s Yusei Nishiono who clocked 25.43 sec.
It was also a redemption of sorts for Nishiono who Ajido defeated in the boys’ 100m butterfly to give the country its first and lone gold in swimming in the continental showpiece.
Ajido won a bronze medal in the in the 50m freestyle on Tuesday.
“Masaya naman po ang experience, medyo di lang po sumakto sa touching form kaya ‘di ko pa natouch ng maayos. Pero okay lang naman po nakuha ko po yung silver,” said Ajido.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa mga learnings na nakuha ko ngayong taon, mas pagbubutihan ko pa po sa mga susunod kong competition,” added the 15-year-old La Salle Greenhills star.
On distaff side, White copped her second bronze medal in the 15-17 girls’ 100m freestyle after clocking 57.86sec behind Japan’s Rimika Taira (56.81) and Hong Kong’s Gilaine Ma (56.86).
The Philippines ended its stint in swimming at 12th place with one gold, one silver and four bronze medals including a bronze medal from Brent International School standout Jasmine Mojdeh, who recently committed to University of Southern California for her collegiate years.
Japan proved its dominance once again by netting 36 gold, 20 silver and 5 bronze medals to finish first in swimming events.
Still, the Fil-British swimmer was happy with her performance as she plans to join the national team in the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand next year through the qualifying round in August this year.
“I was glad I achieved what I was capable of. I’m trying to aim for the SEA Games and I know there’s a qualifier in August, so for the next couple of months I’m going to be practicing and training really hard for [SEAG],” said White.
