OLYMPIAN Kayla Sanchez and Southeast Asian Games medalist Heather White will spearhead the six-member Philippine swimming team that will compete in the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from September 19 to October 4.
Sanchez headlines the squad after a stellar SEA Games debut in Thailand, where she captured three gold medals and five silvers across all eight of her events while anchoring the Philippines to a historic gold in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medalist, who previously represented Canada, will be joined by fellow SEA Games standouts Xiandi Chua and White.
White also turned heads in Thailand after winning silver in the women’s 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m freestyle, emerging as one of the country’s brightest sprint swimmers heading into the continental meet.
Filipino-American Teia Isabella Salvino completes the women’s squad as she returns to the national team after skipping the 2025 SEA Games despite her record-breaking performance at the 2023 Cambodia edition, where she reset the women’s 100m backstroke mark with a time of 1:01.64.
Salvino secured her Asian Games berth during the Philippine Aquatics National Tryouts at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex after clocking 1:02.34 in the women’s 100m backstroke, comfortably surpassing the qualifying standard of 1:02.60.
Chua, meanwhile, brings experience to the team after winning silver in the women’s 200m backstroke at the 2025 SEA Games. She also made history in the 2023 Cambodia Games by breaking the SEA Games record in the event with a time of 2:13.20.
The men’s squad will be bannered by Gian Christopher Santos and Logan Wataru Noguchi.
Santos claimed a silver medal at the 2025 SEA Games and owns the Philippine National Junior Record in the 400m individual medley with a time of 4:31.33.
Noguchi, a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-American, also impressed in Thailand by earning bronze in the men’s 50m butterfly with a time of 23.97 seconds.
In diving, Ariana Hannah Drake will represent the Philippines after finishing fourth in the women’s 3m springboard as the country’s lone diver in the 2022 SEA Games.
