Filipino tanker James Ajido delivered a medal as promised – a silver in the boys’ 100-meter butterfly – even as Alas Pilipinas took a heartbreaking semifinal defeat to Iran in the 3rd Asian Youth Games here.
Ajido, 16, went for the gold but ended up with the silver after clocking 55.11 seconds behind Iranian Mohammadmahdi Gholami, who copped top honors with a blistering 54.75 at the Khalifa Sports City swimming pool.
It was another podium finish on the international stage for the La Salle-Greenhills stalwart, who struck gold in the South Asian and Asian Age Group Championships in Bangkok and New Clark City in Tarlac last year.
Ajido’s feat hiked the Philippines’ medal total to six golds, six silvers and seven bronzes, which kept it at No. 8 in the overall medal tally led by the rampaging Chinese, with an insurmountable 42-33-14 (gold-silver-bronze) harvest.