The Philippines won eight medals in the 46th Southeast Asian Age Group Championships, which were hosted at Bangkok, Thailand's Assumption University.
Under the leadership of Miko Vargas, the Philippine Aquatics, Inc. (PAI) assembled the 12-person squad that collected one gold, six silvers and one bronze.
Biggest winners
One of the winners was 15-year old Jamesray Mishael Ajido who set a record with a time of 25.53 seconds to win the gold in the boys 14-15 50m butterfly.
Ateneo De Manila University's 18-year-old Ivo Nikolai Enot–a skilled tanker and multiple UAAP medalist–also took home silver and bronze medals. He won bronze in the 100-meter backstroke and came in second in the boys 16–18 50-meter backstroke (26.86), after Indonesian Jason Donovan Yusuf (26.40).
With a second silver medal in the girls 16-18 200m butterfly, Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh, a seasoned junior internationalist and the holder of the Philippine junior record, finished 2:21.43 behind Thi Thuy Trang of Thailand (2:18.55).
Gift that keeps on giving
The PAI secretary-general, Eric Buhain, was pleased with the team's performance and hopeful that they would continue to succeed in 2025.
"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." "Thank you to our young team for ending our year on a high note," he said.
