SELANGOR’S Yap Siew Hui looks in good shape for her debut at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China this year after she set a personal best en route to winning the women’s 100m butterfly gold at the Malaysian Open Swimming Championships yesterday.
Siew Hui emerged victorious in 1 minute 1.78 seconds at the National Aquatics Complex in Bukit Jalil. The time bettered her previous personal best of 1:01.9s set at the Myanmar Sea Games and was not too far from the national record of 1:01.4s set by Sabah’s Marellyn Liew in 2009.
Singapore’s Tan Jing-E (1:02.23s) and Indonesia’s Monalisa Arieswaty (1:03.08s) finished second and third respectively. The butterfly specialist said she is hoping to continue improving in the hopes of making an impact in the YOG in August.
“I am quite happy with how I did today. It has been some time since I have been this quick,” said the 16-year-old.
“I feel quite excited to compete at the YOG as some of best (age group) swimmers from around the world will be there. I am hoping to at least make the finals of the 50m and 100m butterfly. You never know what can happen from there on.
“I won a silver (50m) and bronze (100m) at the Asian Youth Games which were also held in Nanjing last year. I believe my chances of making the finals at the YOG are realistic if I can keep lowering my times.”
Kevin Yeap (Perak) and Khoo Cai Lin (Selangor) emerged victorious in the men’s 1,500m freestyle and women’s 800m freestyle event but qualifying for the Incheon Asian Games and Glasgow Commonwealth Games,remained out of reach for the duo.
Cai Lin needed to beat 8:33.55s (Incheon) and 8:45.28s (Glasgow) while Kevin had to better 15:22.03s (Incheon) and 15:28.70s (Glasgow) to make the cut.
Kevin’s winning time of 15:36.64s, however, did see him make the grade for the ‘B’ qualifying time of 15:45.97s for the World Championships in Kazan, Russia next year.
The Malaysian Open was the last chance for national swimmers to qualify on merit for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Indonesia emerged overall winners with 16 gold, nine silver and eight bronze while Selangor came in second with six gold, eight silver and five bronze. Singapore were third with 5-6-2.
RESULTS —
Men’s 50m freestyle: 1 Triady Fauzi Sidik (Ina) 23.51s, 2 Lim Ching Hwang (KL) 23.62s, 3 Arren Quek (Singapore) 23.81s; 100m butterfly: 1 Triady Fauzi Sidik (Ina) 53.98s, 2 Chan Jie (Sel) 55.29s, 3 Danny Yeo (Singapore) 56.29s; 200m backstroke: 1 Gede Siman Sudartawa (Ina) 2:03.49s, 2 Ricky Anggawidjaja (Ina) 2:04.67s, 3 Rohit Rajendra (Ind) 2:07.14s; 1,500m freestyle: 1 Kevin Yeap (Pk) 15:36.64s, 2 Welson Sim (Sar) 16:06.11s, 3 Vernon Lee (Sar) 16:09.27s.
Women’s 50m freestyle: 1 Amanda Lim (Sin) 25.89s, 2 Chui Lai Kwan (Sab) 26.10s, 3 Tan Chi Yan (Mac) 27.14s; 100m butterfly: 1 Yap Siew Hui (Sel) 1:01.78s, 2 Tan Jing-E (Sin) 1:02.23s, 3 Monalisa Arieswaty (Ina) 1:03.08s; 200m backstroke: 1 Roxanne Yu (Phi) 2:19.53s, 2 Evelyn Lukacs (Hun) 2:22.02s, 3 Hannah Quek (Sin) 2:22.34s; 80 0m freestyle: 1 Khoo Cai Lin (Sel) 8:54.64s, 2 Nadia Adrianna Redza (Sel) 9:09.41s, Raina Saumi Grahana (Ina) 9:12.51s.
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