PH swim slots up for grabs in Nat’l Open

Swimmers Luke Gebbie and Remedy Rule will boost their bids in the coming 30th Southeast Asian Games when they literally test the waters in the 1st Philippine National Open Swimming Championships set to begin on Saturday.

For four days, Gebbie and Rule will be among 193 other participants whose objective is to don the national colors through this qualifying event at the aquatics center inside the sprawling SEA Games hub of New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.

Advertised as the “Battle of Champions,” the maiden edition of the national open will also feature SEAG double-silver medalist James Deiparine and Olympians Jessie Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi as well as local standouts Rafael Barreto, Roxanne Yu, Sacho Ilustre, Jerard Jacinto and Xiandi Chua.

While the Filipino-American Rule and Gebbie, who grew up in New Zealand, are the front-runners for the national team to qualify to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, both of them are the biggest hopes to win gold medals in the 11-nation sportsfest on Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

Joining them as gold potentials are US-based and freestyle specialist Nicole Oliva and Deiparine, whose silver feats in the 100-meter and 50-meter breaststroke during the 2017 SEAG could transform into victories this time.

The Filipino-American Rule made the Olympic Selection Time (OST) B cut of 2:12.28 after clocking 2:11.38 in the women’s 200-meter butterfly when she broke five Philippine records in the Fina (International Swimming Federation) World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, last month.