Kayla Sanchez: Doing her best for Team Philippines
Competing in at least seven events at the 19th Asian Games, the spotlight is sure to follow Sanchez whenever she swims.
Given her record of selecting hardware in the world’s biggest events, there is widespread expectation that Sanchez will do the same for the Philippines as she did for Canada.
If you get into the medal zone, the celebration will be important. Not since 1998 The archipelagic nation won a medal in swimming when Papa Raymond He won two bronzes at the Asian Games in Bangkok.
The last gold medal for the Philippines belongs to… 1982 Asian Games In Delhi, India, where William Wilson He won the grand prize in the men’s 200-meter freestyle.
The weight of such expectations will be heavy on Sanchez, but so far the young swimmer has deftly handled questions about her medal hopes.
“I’m excited to come here and compete,” Sanchez said. He told reporters, remove the magnifying glass placed on it. “This is my first Asian Games, so I’m letting experience guide me through this tournament. I’m happy to be here with the team.”
When asked about her chances of making the podium, she added: “Obviously I’m trying my best to get to the highest podium for Team Philippines.”
Sanchez’s long journey to Hangzhou goes back to when she started swimming at age 4 in a community learn-to-swim program. She was encouraged to enter her first competitions at the age of eight.
Later, she joined Swimming Canada’s High Performance Center in Ontario to help keep the team’s momentum going after success Rio 2016. She was part of the group that included Benny Oleksiakis now a seven-time Olympic medalist and Canada’s most decorated Olympian.
A year later, after helping Canada sweep the medals in the relay 2017 World Junior Swimming ChampionshipsSanchez was promoted to the first team.
I have appeared in 2017 World Aquatics Championships In Budapest before competing in Commonwealth Games 2018 On the Gold Coast and 2019 World Aquatics Championships In Gwangju.
The 19th Asian Games are set to be her debut in the Philippines, and Sanchez is looking forward to using the competition to help her launch into the tournament. Paris Olympics 2024 She hopes to go a step further than she did with Canada and win an individual medal.
With that goal in mind, Sanchez chose to skip this year’s tournament World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka Let us be more prepared for the challenges of the Asian Games.
