DAVAO City pride Ivo Nikolai Enot and Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh captured silver medals, completing the Philippine junior swimming team’s impressive showing in the 46th Southeast Asian Age Group Championships at Assumption University in Bangkok, Thailand.
Enot, 18, an accomplished tanker and UAAP multi-medalist from Ateneo De Manila University, added the silver to his bronze medal earlier. He finished second in the boys 16-18 50m backstroke (26.86) behind Indonesian Jason Donovan Yusuf (26.40) and won the bronze in the 100m backstroke.
Mojdeh, a veteran junior internationalist and Philippine junior record holder, captured her second silver medal in the girls’ 16-18 200m butterfly clocking 2:21.43 behind Thi Thuy Trang of Thailand (2:18.55) as the country closed out its campaign on a high note highlighted by the record-breaking performance of Jamesray Mishael Ajido.
Mojdeh earlier won a silver in the 100m butterfly event (1:03.40) to wrap up her junior career in style.
For the first time, artistic swimming contributed with silver as Carmina Sanchez Tan finished second in the women’s solo free.
The 12-man junior team formed by the Philippine Aquatics, Inc. after intensive national tryouts captured one gold, six silver, and one bronze medals.
“Our youth program is like a gift that keeps on giving, and the PAI is truly proud of our young athletes for keeping the winning spirit alive despite huge and tough challenges. And we shall treat this recent campaign as sort of ‘pampa good vibes’ as we face new challenges in 2025. To our young team, thank you for ending our year on a high note,” said PAI Secretary General and Batangas Rep. Eric Buhain.
Ajido, a Grade 9 student at De La Salle Greenhills, is a force to reckon with. The talented swimmer from Antipolo shone as the brightest among the team members. He won the lone gold medal in a new meet record in the boys 14-15 50m butterfly (25.53), erasing the five-year-old meet record of Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Khang.
