By Edwin Rollon
The Philippine junior swimming team collected eight medals, including a record-breaking gold medal performance by Jamesray Mishael Ajido, in the just-concluded 46th Southeast Asian Age Group Championships at Assumption University in Bangkok, Thailand.
Davao City pride Ivo Nikolai Enot and Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh captured silver medals on the final day of the competition, completing the Philippine squad's impressive campaign. The 12-man junior team formed by Philippine Aquatics, Inc., through intensive National selection, captured one gold, six silver, and one bronze medal.
The 18-year-old Enot, an accomplished tanker and UAAP multi-medalist from Ateneo De Manila University added silver to his bronze medal collection, finishing second in the boys 16-18 50m backstroke (26.86) behind Indonesian Jason Donovan Yusuf (26.40). He claimed bronze in the 100m backstroke on the opening day.
Likewise, 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 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, while for the first time artistic swimming contributed with a silver as Carmina Sanchez Tan finished second in the women’s solo free.
"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 Batangas 1st District Congressman Eric Buhain.
"The year 2024 is a good one for PAI and the rest of the aquatics community. With solidarity in place and our relationship with the community getting stronger by the day, we believe Philippine aquatics will have a banner year 2025,” added Buhain, who vowed to intensify the training and program for the country’s premier junior swimmers as PAI is gearing up on its preparation to send a strong and winnable ream for the next year’s Southeast Asian Games.
Ajido, a Grade 9 student at the De La Salle Greenhills, shone the brightest among the members of the team as he won the lone gold medal in the boys 14-15 50m butterfly in a new meet record of 25.53, erasing the five-year-old meet record of Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Khang.
Last February, he was the lone gold medalist and meet record holder in the 13-14 100m butterfly (55.98) in the Asian Aged Group Championships in New Clark City.
Meanwhile, the four-man squad comprised of Southeast Asian Games record holder (2023) Xiandi Chua and SEAG gold medal winner (2022) Chloe Isleta, Andrian Eichler, and Merin Mahmutuglu will compete in the World Championships (short course) starting Wednesday in Budaphest, Hungary.
