THE Philippine Aquatics, Inc. hailed the national team’s showing over the weekend in the prestigious World Aquatics-sanctioned World Cup Qualifying Series (short course) in Singapore.
Filipino swimmers recovered from forgettable performances in Incheon, Korea a week earlier, with 2023 Cambodia Southeast Asian Games record-holder (200m backstroke) Xiandi Chua claiming additional slots to this year’s World Cup Championships in Budapest, Hungary after surpassing the Qualifying Time Standard (B) clocking 2:09.71 in the women’s 200m backstroke.
The 24-year-old senior student at De La Salle University got her first QTB for the World Cup with a time of 4:45.41 in the 400m Individual Medley while campaigning for the Philippine Team in the 2024 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships last September in Adelaide, Australia.
Her time surpassed Georgina Peregrina’s 4:46.08 Philippine record at the New Zealand National Championships on October 5, 2018.
“We’re far from our ultimate goal, but we’re moving in that direction. What we’re experiencing right now is the usual lows and highs of any sport, we win some and lose some. Wins like this, however small, are still important to us because it means we’re capable of giving out the best shots at any opportunity. The road to success is never easy, but our swimmers are taking that road,” said PAI Secretary-General and Congressman Eric Buhain.
Vietnam (2022) SEA Games gold medalist Chloe Isleta will join Chua for the World Cup slated December 10-15 with two QTB marks – 1:01.59 in the women’s 100m Individual Medley and 59.80 seconds in 100m backstroke that she earned while campaigning in the Puerto Rico International Short Course Championship on October 20
Aside from the QTB mark in Singapore, Chua, along with 18-year-old Jasmine Mojdeh, made it to the Finals in the 200m butterfly and finished seventh and eighth place, respectively, clocking 2:14.11 and 2:16.58.
Joshua Ang, Rian Marco Adiong Tirol, and Fil-Am Miranda Renner established a new Philippine record during the three-day campaign by the Nationals coached by Olympian Ryan Arabejo and Ramil Ilustre.
