Welson Sim (second left) together with (from left) Lim Yin Chuen, Welson Sim, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal and Khiew Hoe Yean showing their medals. – Bernama photo
HANOI (May 17): The national swimming squad ended the competition in the pool today with a silver and bronze as well as a new national record in the final action which took place at the My Dinh Aquatic Centre here, today.
The swimmers Welson Sim from Sarawak, Lim Yin Chuen, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal and Khiew Hoe Yean won the men’s 4×200 metre (m) freestyle silver medal with a time of seven minutes and 19.75 seconds (s) thus setting a new national record.
The record erases the old record of 7: 26.74s set by Kevin Yeap, Vernon Lee, Welson and Lim Ching Hwang at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland
The gold medal in the record time of 7: 16.31s was won by the host quartet which fielded Nguyen Huu Kim Son, Nguyen Huy Hoang, Hoang Quy Phuoc and Nguyen Tran Hung.
The presence of the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Joseph Schooling did not matter as the Singapore team which comprised Jonathan Tan, Glen Lim and Quah Zheng Wen took home the bronze with a time of 7: 21.49s.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s bronze medal was contributed by Job Tan in the men’s 200m breaststroke event after recording 2: 17.68s behind Vietnamese swimmer Thanh Bao Pham who clocked 2: 12.09s.
The gold was won by Singapore’s Maximillian Wei Ang with a time of 2: 11.93s which is also a new games record.
Earlier, Arvin Shaun, who competed in the men’s 50m backstroke, finished seventh after clocking 27.23s with Singapore’s Zheng Wen grabbing gold (25.83s) while Vietnam’s Nguyen Paul Le won silver with a time of 25.86s.
The achievement of winning the 4x200m freestyle silver medal saw Hoe Yean collecting three silvers at the 31st biennial event after also taking the podium in the men’s 400m freestyle and men’s 200m backstroke, yesterday.
The 31st SEA Games swimming will close its curtain on Thursday with the national squad now having collected three silver and one bronze. – Bernama