Israel’s cadet swimming team ended the Comen Cup in Serbia with 11 medals, including four gold, four silver and three bronze. The Comen Cup is the annual championship for young swimmers from Mediterranean countries and was Israel’s main target competition this year.
Israel won its first medal on the opening day, when Inbar Yuskovitz Lev Ari, of Maccabi A.S. Ramat HaSharon, took bronze in the 100m freestyle in 51.63 seconds. Later that night, Shon Pumberg of Maccabi Kiryat Bialik won Israel’s first gold in the 400m freestyle in 4:00.67, and the 4x100m freestyle relay, Yoni Dagan, Tomer Rosner, Uri Nissim and Yuskovitz, added bronze in 3:27.01.
On day two, Mark Sagalovich of Hapoel Bat Yam earned silver in the 100m breaststroke with a personal best of 1:04.47, and Rosner took bronze in the 100m butterfly in 55.44. Israel’s 4x200m freestyle relay, Yuskovitz Lev Ari, Dagan, Pumberg and Rosner, won gold, while the 4x100m medley relay, Michal Bakhar, Sagalovich, Rosner and Dagan, claimed silver.
On the final day, Dagan added silver in the 200m freestyle in 1:53.39, Pumberg won gold in the 1500m freestyle in 15:45.71, and Dagan closed the meet with gold and a personal best of 2:03.85 in the 200m individual medley. Among the women, Michal Ognitz of Hapoel Beit Shemesh set two new age-group records at 14, finishing fourth in both the 100m freestyle, 57.27, and 50m freestyle, 26.42. Maayan Graur of Maccabi Haifa placed fifth in the 200m individual medley with a personal best of 2:23.72.
Israel finished third in the overall team standings behind Italy and Turkey, ahead of France. In the boys’ best-performance rankings, Pumberg led with 780 points, while Dor Weiss of TLV SWIM was sixth with 758 and Dagan eighth with 753. Coach Pavel Pessin said the swimmers showed they are “the future generation of Israeli swimming,” and noted that hearing “Hatikvah” four times and seeing the Israeli flag raised was deeply moving.
