Kaito, Miku strike gold in Tokyo

Kaito Yanai

Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center’s Kaito Yanai and Miky Tammy brought home gold medals from last weekend’s 2014 Tokyo Junior Sprint held at the Tatsumi International Swimming Arena in Japan.
Yanai ruled the 100m individual medley race in the boys U14 age group after timing in at 1:03.06. He advanced to the finals after also finishing first in the preliminary races, beating 28 other swimmers. In the race for the gold medal, Yanai defeated Japan’s Souta Ishimatsu (1:03.69) and Ruka Kai (1:04.25).

Besides bagging the gold medal in the 100m IM, the 13-year-old swimmer also took a silver medal in the 50m breaststroke to have another successful campaign in his third appearance in the annual tournament. Yanai first joined the Tokyo Sprint in 2010 and he clinched a gold medal in the 100m IM race in the U8 group. Then two years later, he returned to Tokyo and notched a silver in the same event.

Tammy was also a Tokyo Sprint returnee and this time came home with a gold medal. She prevailed in the 50m butterfly event in the girls U11 age group after clocking in at 31.97 seconds. Tammy had a close win against Japan’s Fuuka Kashiwazaki and Wakana Uemura, who submitted identical times of 32.01.

Earlier in the preliminary races, Tammy topped her qualifying heat and was also the fastest among the 95 swimmers who joined the sprint event. Only the Top 8 advanced to the final race. The gold medal finish in the 50m butterfly swim surpassed Tammy’s bronze medal win (100m IM) in her debut in the youth competition in 2012.

Meanwhile, two other Tsunami Saipan swimmers completed their respective races in Tokyo.
Angel De Jesus qualified in the finals of the 100m IM race in the girls U15 age group. She went on to place seventh in the championship race after logging 1:16.97. Japan’s Mayuka Ishikawa won the gold medal after recording 1:07.23, while compatriot Haruka Nogami nailed the silver with her 1:09.78.

In the 15-and-over division, Takumi Sugie raced in the 50m freestyle, missed the finals, but set a personal best time.

Tsunami head coach Hiro Kimura and other club officials accompanied the four swimmers in the two-day competition and the former was happy with Yanai and company’s performances.

“I’m so satisfied with the results. Next year, we will bring many young and strong swimmers to Tokyo. We would like to thank all our supporters in Saipan and Japan—Japan Swimming Federation, Tokyo Swimming Association, Tokai University Urayasu High school, and Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation—for making this trip possible,” Kimura said.