SEAG vets head 8-man swim squad

MANILA, Philippines -  Only eight bets – two males and six females – will represent the Philippines in the medal-rich sport of swimming in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.

According to SEA Games task force official Tom Carrasco, the Philippine Swimming, Inc. named Olympians Jessie Khing Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi, James Deiparine, Nicole Oliva, Roxanne Yu and Rosalee Santa Ana, Nicole Pamintuan and Maria Aresa Lipat to the Aug. 19-30 SEAG.

Lacuna, Alkhaldi, Yu, and Sta. Ana will return after competing in the 2015 edition in Singapore, where the team accounted for two silvers, courtesy of Lacuna (400m free) and Joshua Hall (50m breast), along with 11 bronze medals.

Fil-Am Hall, who also delivered a bronze in Singapore (100m breast), won’t be back for another tour of duty.

“He’s ineligible as according to the Philippine Swimming Inc., he’s failed to renew his Philippine passport,” Carrasco said.

Swimming will stake 40 gold medals in Malaysia and Carrasco pointed to Fil-Am breaststroke specialist Deiparine as a good gold medal prospect, having surpassed the gold-winning marks in the 50m and 100m distances in the 2015 SEA Games.

The 23-year-old Deiparine clocked 28:22 in a bronze-medal feat at the Scottish National Swimming Championship, which was better than the winning 28.27 of Indonesian 50 m breast champ Indra Gunawan.

Deiparine’s 1:02:00 effort at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara was also faster than the 1:02:46 of Malaysian 100m breast winner Wong Fu Kang.