A TOTAL of 440 swimmers — 180 girls and 260 boys — from 66 swimming clubs have registered to compete in the Luzon tryouts for the Southeast Asia Age Group Championship starting today up to Sunday at the Teofilo Ildefonso swimming pool of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Event organizer coach Chito Rivera said the fifth-place winning times in last year’s SEA Age Group tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will be the qualifying standard in all events to be disputed in the tryouts.
The 2023 edition of the SEA Age Group Championship will be held on August 24-26 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“During our meeting, PSI Secretary General Rep. Eric Buhain suggested that instead of the bronze medal time we use the 5th place time as the qualifying standard so that we can give more chances to the swimmers who have not participated in tryouts before,” said Rivera.
Rivera said swimmers who fail to qualify will still have a chance to make it in the National tryouts for Luzon and Visayas that will be held simultaneously on July 21-23 in Ilocos Norte and Dumaguete City while the Mindanao leg is scheduled July 22-23.
According to Buhain, a two-time Olympian and Philippine Sports Hall-of Famer, apart from the re-organization initiated in the PSI, the new leadership led by Miko Vargas is prioritizing the grassroots program not only in regular swimming but in other sports under aquatics.
“We’re not just looking after the welfare of athletes in regular swimming. Our responsibility also includes athletes in diving, water polo, artistic swimming, as well as open water,” said Buhain, who represent the 1st District of Batangas.
“We need to strengthen not only swimming but also diving, water polo and other sports under aquatics. It has not been given much attention but this time it is included in our priority list,” Buhain said.
