TOP THREE. Japan's Yumeki Kojima (center) wins gold medal while compatriot Hinata Ando (left) got the silver medal in the boys’ 15-17 200m freestyle event of the 11th Age Group Championships at the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac on Wednesday (Feb. 28, 2024). Malaysian Muhammad Dhuh Zulkikry (right) took the bronze. (AAGC photo)
CAPAS, Tarlac – Japan grabbed nine more gold medals on Thursday to keep the lead in the 11th Age Group Championships at the New Clark City Aquatics Center here.
Yumeki Kojima, Hirata Toya, and Minami Yui delivered two golds each while Shin Ohashi, Umi Ishizuka and Misaki Kasahara got one apiece, giving the Japanese team a total of 29 gold medals on the penultimate day of the competition serving as qualifier for the Paris Olympics.
Kojima ruled the boys’ 15-17 200m freestyle in 1:51.78, beating compatriot Hinata Ando (1:52.53) and Malaysian Muhammad Dhuh Zulkikry (1:53.96).
Toya clocked 2:06.63 to prevail over India's Vedanta Venkat Madhira (2:09.34) and Chinese Taipei's Kai-Yueh Chang (2:09.95) in the boys 12-14 200m backstroke, while Yui topped the girls’ 12-14 100m freestyle in 56.45, with Hong Kong's Sum Yiu Li (56.57) and Vietnam's Thuy Hien Nguyen (56.69) placing second and third, respectively.
Shin Ohashi set a new meet record of 2:13.93 in the boys’ 12-14 200m breaststroke, improving the 2:19.62 performance set by compatriot Mazuki Utsonomiya in 2009.
Japanese Iori Miyazaki (2:18.22) was second followed by Hong Kong's Yulun Wu (2:23.11).
Ishizuka (1:00.36) and teammate Ako Saito (1:01.95) had a 1-2 finish in the girls’ 12-14 100m butterfly while China's Xinjia Liu (1:03.97) settled for third.
Kasahara captured the gold medal in the girls’ 12-14 200m backstroke in 2:15.95) while compatriot Rei Nakano (2:18.19) and Thailand's Kanistha Tungnapakorn (2:22.91) were second and third, respectively.
Japan dominated two relays, the mixed 12-14 4x100m freestyle (Hirata, Yui, Yusei Nishiono, and Haruno Tanimoto) and the boys’ 15-17 4x200m freestyle (Ryo Furue, Raito Numata, Kojima and Ando).
Hong Kong ranked second in the medal board with 14 golds, 10 silvers, and 11 bronzes followed by Kazakhstan (14-10-3), Thailand (14-8-20), Vietnam (11-15-17), India ( 4-10-3), Chinese Taipei (3-13-11), Macau (2-1-1), Iran (1-3-5), Philippines (1-0-3), Kyrgyzstan (1-0-0), Uzbekistan (0-2-2), China (0-2-2), Malaysia (0-1-5), Qatar (0-0-3), Mongolia (0-0-2) and Jordan (0-0-1). (PNA)
