Ajido wins silver in 50 meter butterfly

CAPAS, Tarlac, Philippines — Jamesray Ajido capped his impressive effort with a silver medal in the boys’ 50-meter butterfly at the close of the swimming competitions in the 11th Asian Age-Group Swimming Championships Thursday night at the New Clark City here.

Ajido, 15, went for a second gold as he went toe-to-toe with Japanese Yusei Nishiono but fell just short in the end to settle for a silver with a clocking of 25.50 seconds behind the latter’s gold-sealing 25.43.

Iranian Yashar Soleimani settled for the bronze in 26.02.

It punctuated what had been a sterling performance by the Southeast Asian Age Group gold winner, who went home with a gold, a silver and a bronze medal that helped the host Philippines finish with a decent 1-1-4 haul.

“Happy po sa results pero kailangan pa po mag training pa lalo,” said Ajido, a La Salle Greenhills standout and NCAA juniors double-gold winner.

Fil-Brit Heather White snatched her second bronze in the girls’ 100m freestyle in 57.86.

Japan’s Rimika Taira copped mint with a 56.81 while Hong Kong, China’s Gilaine Ma pocketed the silver with a 56.86.

The 16-year-old White’s other bronze came in the 100m fly while Micaela Jasmine Mojdeh accounted for the Filipino’s fourth bronze in the 200m fly both occurring Tuesday.

“I’m going back to training and hopefully get a spot in the Southeast Asian Games trials this August,” said White, who is based in Vietnam where her Davao de Oro-born mother Jenny works.