KUCHING: Sarawak’s rising swimming star Erika Kong Chia Chia is expected to do better in the swimming competition at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China that commences today and ends on Nov 27.
Erika Kong Chia Chia
As far as her personal trainer and father Anthony Kong is concerned, his daughter would definitely perform better than the outing at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last month.
“She is quite pleased with the times she posted during her training especially in the past two days and this time around she is better mentally prepared and focused in her preparations and challenge,” he said yesterday.
However, both he and Erika have not set any medal target in the Guangzhou games as little is known of the competitors from host China, Japan and South Korea.
Erika will be competing in the women’s 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke individual events in her last competition of the year.
“We will take the competition one stage at a time, from the heats to the semi-finals and hopefully win something there,” said Kong, who is also accompanying his daughter to the Asian Games.
They departed to Kuala Lumpur yesterday morning where they will join the national team in the evening flight to Guangzhou.
Meanwhile, Sarawak’s other swimmer in the national squad Daniel Bego will be aiming to better his times he recorded during the Asian Games in Doha four years ago, in the Guangzhou meet.
The swimmer who hails from Miri now wants to break his personal best of 53.82s in the men’s 100m butterfly final in Doha where he finished sixth.
“For this year’s Asian Games, I don’t set any medal target. I just want to do better than Doha. My aim is to beat my personal best,” he was quoted as saying in a national daily.
He will be competing in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly events and is anticipating intense competition with the presence of swimming champions from China, Japan and South Korea.