Asian Games: Swimmers Continue Poor Form

From Farhanah Azmi

GUANGZHOU, Nov 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysian swimmers failed to produce any splashing performances in the Asian Games swimming events which ended at the Aoti Aquatic Centre here Thursday.

In Thursday's evening session which featured all finals, only one Malaysian - Kevin Yeap - made it to the pool when he qualified for the men's 1,500m Freestyle event.

Kevin however, could only manage sixth position with a time of 15 minutes 53.34 seconds, well off the National record of 15:23.61s held by Jeffrey Ong since 1991.

The event was won by Yang Sun of China who set a new Asian record with a time of 14:35.43s, erasing his fellow countryman Zhang Liu's record of 14:45.84s that was set two years ago during the Beijing Olympics.

Yang Sun's time was more than a minute faster than Kevin's, exposing the disparity between the standard between Malaysian and Chinese swimmers who dominated the pool since day one, scooping gold medal after gold medal in the men's and women's events.

In the morning 50m Backstroke heats, Ian James Barr clocked 27.46s, a far cry from the National record of 25.67s held by Lim Keng Liat since the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Yap See Tuan also failed to make any impact in the men's 200m Breastroke when he posed a time of 2:19.77s compared with the National record of 2:15.62s set by Elvin Chia in 1999.

In men's 4x100m Medley, Ian, See Tuan, Daniel Bego and Foo Jian Beng also failed to make a splash after clocking 3:49.82s compared with the National mark of 3:45.61s.

Meanwhile, with the swimming events coming to a close today, all eyes will be on diving events that start on Monday, featuring Malaysian divers Pandelela Rinong, Leong Mun Yee, Yeoh Ken Nee and Bryan Nickson Lomas.

-- BERNAMA