Thursday, August 31, 2006
Swim, dive teams aim to make waves for RP in Asiad
The Filipino diving and swimming teams hope to make big waves in the 15th Asian Games from Dec. 1-15 in Doha, Qatar.
Bidding to come up with bigger splashes than what they generated in the diving competition of the Manila Southeast Asian Games are Sheila Mae Perez, Ceseil Domenios, Zardo Domenios, Niño Carog, Rexel Ryan Fabriga and Jaime Asok.
Perez won three gold medals, while Domenios had one in tandem with Perez in the three-meter synchronized springboard.
Ceseil’s brother Zardo won a gold, along with Carog and Fabriga. Asok will be replacing Kevin Kong, who shared the gold with Fabriga in the synchronized 10-meter platform event.
The national team will be arriving on Sept. 16 after a heavy five-day training regimen in Zigong, China under the tutelage of foreign coach Zhang Dehu.
Zhang trained Chinese Olympic champion Gao Min, now head coach of the Canadian diving team.
Working with the national team since 1997, Kong had turned over the coaching chores to Zhang and assistant coach Laurence Ifurung to accept an invitation by the Asian Swimming Federation to be a technical judge in the Asian Games.
Kristine Angeles Lozada, chairperson of the national diving committee, also received an invitation.
The presence of two Filipino judges in Doha will be a critical factor in the country’s medal hopes.
Swimming, meanwhile, has named SEA Games triple gold medalist Miguel Molina (200 individual medley, 200 breaststroke, 400 IM, 200 freestyle), Fil-Am Erica Totten (200 free, 200 fly, 100 fly), Fil-Am James Walsh (200 fly), Jackie Pangilinan (200 breast), Kendrick Uy (100 free, 50 free, and possibly the 200 free relay), and Ryan Arabejo (1,500 free, 400 free, 100 back).
The chances of the RP swimmers landing a medal in the Asiad will depend largely on how fast they could approximate the average time of the top 16 swimmers in the world, said swimming coach Pinky Brosas. (PR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 31, 2006 issue)
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