{"id":352429,"date":"2021-09-27T06:04:12","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T20:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=352429"},"modified":"2021-09-27T06:04:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T20:04:12","slug":"4-punch-tickets-to-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/4-punch-tickets-to-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"4 punch tickets to World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Swimming
Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan\u2019s Jinnosuke Suzuki and Juhn Tenorio and Saipan Swim Club\u2019s Taiyo Akimaru are flanked by SSC coach Richard Sikkel and Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation vice president John Hirsh during the awards ceremony of last Saturday\u2019s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series at the 500 Sails building in Susupe. (MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jinnosuke Suzuki, Juhn Tenorio, and sisters Asaka and Shoko Litulumar will represent the CNMI in the 2021 FINA World Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from Dec. 16 to 21.<\/p>\n

The Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan bets formalized their selections after topping anew Saipan Swim Club\u2019s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series last Saturday, Sept. 25, in the waters off Civic Center Beach in Susupe. The Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation-sanctioned race served as the final qualifier for the World Championships. The first two qualifiers were held last July 10 and 24.<\/p>\n

Suzuki topped the final men\u2019s qualifier with a time of 12:27.45. He was followed by Tenorio in 12:55.59. SSC\u2019s Taiyo Akimaru and Jakey Deleon Guerrero finished third and fourth with times of 13:50.63 and 14:33.10, respectively.<\/p>\n

The qualifiers\u2019 top dog said he\u2019s looking forward to represent the CNMI in the World Championships in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am glad that I was able to place first in the qualifiers and could hopefully swim in the World Championships in Abu Dhabi. My goal is to get personal best times and break a record,\u201d he said.
\nTenorio, for his part, seconded Suzuki\u2019s desire to bring honor to their home islands by taking part anew in the international competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very happy to represent our island once again. I will continue to work hard and show my best performance on race day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asaka Litulumar, meanwhile, was the first to touch the flag in the final women\u2019s qualifier with a time of 14:44.28. Shoko Litulumar was not far back at 14:45.09, while SSC\u2019s Jinie Thompson was third in 15:00.63. SSC\u2019s Savita Sikkel came in fourth at 15:33.49.<\/p>\n

The elder Litulumar said out of all the three races she swam, last Saturday\u2019s was the most difficult because she and her sister were racing side by side the whole time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never felt more scared in my life, but this was a great race. I\u2019m excited to go to the World Championships in Abu Dhabi as a national representative for the CNMI. Great job to all the participants and volunteers for their hard work. I would like to thank 500 Sails for letting us race at Guma Sakman. I would also like to thank my parents and coach for always supporting me and giving me great advice to become a faster swimmer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Shoko, for her part, admitted experiencing nerves before the race.<\/p>\n

\"Swimming
Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan\u2019s Asaka Litulumar and Shoko Litulumar are flanked by SSC coach Richard Sikkel and Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation vice president John Hirsh during the awards ceremony of last Saturday\u2019s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series at the 500 Sails building in Susupe. (MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSomething deep inside me was telling me that \u2018I will lose I can\u2019t do it, it\u2019s too long, they\u2019re going to beat me, they\u2019re too fast.\u2019 I was very negative, hiding it with a smile and fake confidence,\u201d she said.
\nIn the end, however, once she was in the water, her competitiveness kicked in.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they all disappeared once I started swimming. I knew what I had to do, what I must do, and I did it without fail, which led me to win second right behind my sister. Asaka. I was so happy I won and I screamed out in joy, but that wasn\u2019t the end. My journey starts from here, as a swimmer representing CNMI at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi. I have set a clear goal in mind, never give up, and give it my 200 percent all during practice even if it means I would have to overwork myself because hard work pays off. During the meet at Abu Dhabi, my goal is to get best times in all events that I will swim. I am looking forward to find out how this journey will unfold,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura said seeing her Top 4 swimmers win the qualifiers was bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly two swimmers each gender from the team could participate in this selection race. Our team has more than two swimmers who have times worthy to become a national representative. No matter who participated, they would get good time and win the race. That\u2019s why it was really hard for me as a coach to choose two only of them for team representative. I know swimmers who weren\u2019t chosen by me for this selection race were really sad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s Kimura\u2019s sincere belief that Suzuki, Tenorio, and the Litulumar sisters swam with the hearts of their teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the fact that the four swimmers won exactly because of their gratitude to their teammates. The swimmers who lost the team selection cheered very hard for our team representatives. As a coach, I\u2019ve never been so happy. To me, all Tsunami swimmers are my pride. Not only the winners of the qualifying race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jinnosuke Suzuki, Juhn Tenorio, and sisters Asaka and Shoko Litulumar will represent the CNMI in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":352409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3402],"class_list":["post-352429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-world-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}