Gold rush at the pool
SINGAPORE-- The Filipino tankers produced another scintillating performance at the pool as they collected four more gold medals in the 9th Asean Schools Games Sunday at the Singapore Sports School.
Following their fiery start on opening day of competition Saturday where they won two golds, the swimmers were even more deadly this time with four golds to raise their total to six in the annual event aimed at promoting Asean solidarity through school sports.
Spearheading the second-day gold rush were, who else, but Maurice Sacho Ilustre and Filipino-British tanker Bhay Maitland Newberry.
The 17-year-old Ilustre, a standout De La Salle Zobel in Muntinlupa City, lived up to his billing as one of the rising swimming stars in the country by topping the boys 100 meters freestyle 100-meter butterfly.
Ilustre, also the secondary division’s most valuable player (MVP) in the 2017 Palarong Pambansa, clocked 55.97 seconds in capturing the boys 100m butterfly gold over Singaporean rival Rhys Jun Kai NG (56.36) and Indonesian Damanik Alexander (56.41) who took the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
His astonishing ASG campaign so far didn’t end there as Ilustre collared his second gold for the day, winning the boys 200m freestyle event. He clocked 1:53.21 in besting Ahmad Fathoni Erick of Indonesia (1:56.13) and Tsien Ee Tan (1:56.29) of Malaysia.
Erick and Tan settled for silver and bronze, respectively.
Ilustre, in an interview at the sidelines of the swimming competition, said standing on the victory stand gives him goosebumps.