Lacuna, Alkhaldi boost PH Olympic cast to 7

ADD swimmers Jessie Khing Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi to the lean number of Filipino athletes seeing action in the London Olympics this July.

Swimming chief Mark Joseph yesterday confirmed the inclusion of Lacuna and Alkhaldi in the Philippine delegation, bringing the country’s Olympic cast to seven and dismissing apprehensions that local tankers might not be seeing action in the London Games.

According to Joseph, Lacuna and Alkhaldi qualified based on their rankings in the points table of the world swim body Fina.

Fina has trimmed the roster of qualified swimmers to the Olympics down to 900 worldwide from the 976 who participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“For swimming, making it to the Olympics is no longer automatic,” Joseph, president of the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association, told the Inquirer. “Swimmers have to meet the standards of the Fina to assure themselves of an Olympic spot.”

Lacuna and Alkhaldi, both 18, are set to compete in the Southeast Asian Federation Swimming Championship, an Olympic qualifying meet, in Singapore on May 28 to June 17.

Joseph said Lacuna, now the fastest male Filipino swimmer after breaking the PH record of Miguel Molina in the 200-meter freestyle, will swim the same event while Alkhaldi, who competed with Lacuna in the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, may vie in the 100m free.

Lacuna, of Pulilan, Bulacan, and Alkhaldi, a freshman at the University of Hawaii, will join boxer Mark Anthony Barriga, long jumper Marestella Torres, steeplechaser Rene Herrera, skeet shooter Brian Rosario and judoka Tomohiko Hoshina in the Olympics set July 27 to Aug. 12.