MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino swimmer Seb Wong emerged from the shadow of other local athletes -- as well as his own sister, wushu artist Agatha -- with his performance in the recent PSI Swimming National Selection meet.

The lack of competition and the limited training did not stop the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde graduate from pushing himself.

"We didn't really stop," he said. "We just did what we can. When it was really bad, we just stayed at home. We did core, lung workouts, and prepared ourselves to get back into the water."

"And then we did the same things, same routine -- gym, and then continuous training, so that really helped us in the competition," he added.

Wong came through with impressive results in the meet organized by the Philippine Swimming, Inc. He won both the 50-meter freestyle (23.97 seconds) and the 50-meter butterfly (25.67 seconds). He likewise turned in a decent time of 54.07 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle for a fourth-place finish.

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"I was pretty happy with my performance. My 50 free and my 50 fly were really good, especially with my 50 fly. I was really surprised to get the 25. I was not really expecting to get that," he said.

"I was really disappointed at the 100 free because I went out too slow in the first 50, and wasn't able to get as fast in the second 50 as I hoped. So, there's room for improvement," he added.

Wong is determined to continue working and improving as he wants to reach his ultimate goal of representing the Philippines -- something that his older sister Agatha has done repeatedly.

The elder Wong was among the stars for the Philippines in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, where she won golds in taijiquan and taijijian. Agatha has also won a bronze in the Asian Games in 2018.

• READ: Agatha Wong secures gold in wushu, 2nd overall for Team PH
• READ: Fatigue of non-stop training all worth it for Agatha Wong

"I want to represent the country in the SEA Games, in the FINA Championships," said the younger Wong, who said his sister inspires and motivates him to follow in her footsteps.

"We always have this competitive nature, us siblings," he said. "And seeing her winning golds in the SEA Games and other competitions really motivates me to be better in my own sport."

With things seemingly slowly falling into place, and Wong knowing where he is right now, the journey for a spot in the national team continues.

"This competition really helped us know where we are at the moment. So it is a really big help if we are aiming for the SEA Games," the part-time model said.

"For me, we obviously need more training. We found out where we were at. We just have to look at where we lack, where our weaknesses were, and know what our strengths are," he added. "Because when we know our strengths, weaknesses will follow so we can work on them."