Sports
White breaks PH junior record at SEA Age

THE Philippine national junior team collected three more gold medals in the 44th Southeast Asian (SEA) Age Group Swimming Championship being held at the National Aquatic Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Filipino British Heather White shone the brightest as she broke the Philippine national junior record in winning the gold medal in girls' 14-15 50m freestyle event.White registered an impressive clocking of 26.83 seconds to erase the old national record of 26.88 seconds established by Miranda Renner at the 40th SEA Age Group Championships held in Thailand in 2016.White, a product of the Philippine Swimming League then headed by the late Susan Papa, defeated second placer Ploy Leelayana of Thailand (27.25) and third placer Ni Putu Pande Primasari of Indonesia (27.34).National junior record holder Jamesray Ajido was unstoppable, claiming another gold medal in the boys' 13-under class.Ajido topped the 50m butterfly event in 26.83 seconds, beating Indonesian bets Nyoman Gede Swaha (27.02) and Aulia Adzikri Maulana (27.14), who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.Also bagging another gold was World Junior Championships veteran Alexander Eichler who dominated the boys' 14-15 50m butterfly in 26.09 seconds.He beat silver medalist Jeremy Elyon Ganesha of Indonesia (26.16) and bronze medalist Nusit Suwanhiranporn of Thailand (26.38).Besides the gold medals, the Philippines also secured a silver from Joshua Gabriel Ang in boys' 16-18 50m butterfly (25.26) and a bronze from Ava Samantha Bautista in girls' 14-15 50m butterfly (28.71).

Heather White (left) and Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh CONTRIBUTED PHOTO