THE Behrouz Elite Swimming Team (BEST), led by Behrouz Mohammad Madi Mojdeh, showed its strength immediately, capturing a gold medal on the first day of competition at the 2024 Buccaneer Invitational Swimming Championships held at St. Mary's International School swimming pool in Tokyo, Japan.

Mojdeh dominated the boys' 13-14 200-meter (m) breaststroke, recording an impressive two minutes and 35.63 seconds to secure the team's first gold medal in the tournament.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary College-Parañaque standout outpaced Japan bets Kenny Schamisso, who clocked 2:37.31 to settle for silver, and Ousei Fukuda, who finished far behind with 2:50.16 for the bronze medal.

"I really prepared for this tournament because it's my first time competing in Japan. And I'm happy with the result because I got the gold medal," Mojdeh said.

This was a great comeback for Mojdeh, who only managed to win silver in the boys' 13-14 400-m individual medley (IM) with a time of 4:47.99.

"I was extra motivated because I only got second place in the 400-m IM, so I sped up in the breaststroke to get the top spot," Mojdeh added."

Aside from Mojdeh's gold and silver, her younger sibling Mikhael Jasper Mikee Mojdeh also secured a silver medal. Mikee finished second in the boys' 9-10 50-m butterfly after submitting an impressive 38.01 seconds.

Therese Annika Quinto added another silver in the girls' 13-14 100-m freestyle with a time of 1:04.58, narrowly losing to Japan's Runa Arai, who took the top spot with 1:03.13.

Juancho Jamon secured bronze in the boys' 10-under 25-m freestyle with a time of 19.21 seconds, behind China's Wang Pei Xuan (18.34 seconds) and Japan's George Shin (19.03 seconds).

"It's a good start for us. The kids are motivated, and hopefully, we'll get more golds on the second day of competition," said BEST team manager Joan Mojdeh, who was accompanied by BEST team owner Harold Mojdeh.

Kristian Yugo Cabana will again try to sweep gold medals in his favorite events, including the 100-m freestyle.