It was double joy for Quah Ting Wen, who not only swept the first gold in swimming for Singapore by winning the women’s 100m freestyle but also had the distinction of setting the first new Sea Games record in the 25th edition of the biennial Games with a time of 56.03s. She rewrote the 10-year-old record of 56.05s set by compatriot Joscelin Yeo in 1999 at the SEA Games in Brunei. Thailand’s J. Natthanan took the silver in 56.33 while another Singaporean Lim Xiang Qi (56.60) settled for the bronze.
“I was rather nervous in the final. There were many other good swimmers. But I was confident of setting a new record if I win the gold,” said Ting Wen.
In the men’s 200m backstroke Singapore struck gold again through Zach Ong with a time of 2:03.27 while the silver was won by Ryan Arabejo of the Philippines (2:04.36) as Rainer Ng also of Singapore won the bronze 2:06.10. Singapore ’s third gold came through Tao Li in the women’s 200m backstroke with a time of 2:17.12 – far below the existing record of 2:16.76 set by Akiko Thomson of the Philippines set in 1993. Thailand’s T. Chavisa settled for the silver with a time of 2:19.87 while Shana Lim of Singapore the bronze in 2:20.98.
Malaysia broke Singapore’s domination in the pool when Siow Yi Ting clocked a fast 2:14.57 on her way to the gold and new Games’ record in the women’s 200m individual medley. The old record stood at 2:17.17 set by Singapore’s Jocelin Yeo in 1999.
Thailand’s J. Natthanan (2:18.98) and Singapore’s Koh Hui Yu settled for the silver and the bronze respectively.
SEAG
