Sheamus celebrates with (from left) Dick Chew, sister Ricca Chew, mother Janne Voon and Felix Chew.
KUCHING (March 21): A 23-year-old record of the Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championships held by Daniel Bego was shattered on the second day of the 49th edition of the meet held at Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre, Petra Jaya last Saturday.
The new record holder is 10-year-old Sheamus Chew Heng Yi from Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) who clocked 33.17s in Boys Group D 50m butterfly, chipping 0.02s off the 33.19s set by Daniel Bego in 2000.
Kotas made a clean sweep of the top three positions in this event, with Max Chew Yu Xiang taking the silver on 35.11s and Tan Jit Sung the bronze on 41.41s.
Sheamus claimed his first medal of the meet when he finished second in the 100m freestyle after posting a time of 1:08.25 after Max Chew who clocked 1:08.09 and Tan Jit Sung made it another clean sweep of the top three positions for Kotas with his time of 1:16.98.
The primary five student at Chung Hua Primary School No. 5 bagged his second silver in the 200m individual medley where he clocked 2:52.01 and the gold went to Max Chew whose time was 2:49.75 and Ethan Tan Kheng Hong was third on 3:14.11.
Unfortunately, he was disqualified in the third event 100m butterfly and he felt demoralised but after striking gold in the 50m backstroke in 1:18.63, he bounced back with full confidence to win the 50m butterfly and broke the record in the process.
Sheamus also picked up gold in the 50m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 4x50m medley relay and 4x100m freestyle relay, making it a total of six golds and three silvers.
He walked away with the Boys Group D best swimmer award.
Sheamus’ father Dick Chew Kiok Shun was delighted with his son’s performance in the meet, saying that it was the best performance so far this year.
“I was actually very surprised with his performance and the whole family and his grandfather Felix Chew Beng Hock who is his number one fan and supporter will be celebrating his amazing achievements.
“We will continue to support him and having qualified for the national age group swimming championship is another good achievement. We hope he can also do well and eventually follow his idols Daniel Bego and Michael Phelp footsteps one day,” said Dick.
Sheamus started to learn how to swim when he was six years old (Kindy Year 3) where he joined Power Aquatics Swimming Club and trained under coaches Voon Yong Hui, Abdul Rahman and Teo Ah Hua.
He has taken part in many local competitions and last year he impressed with a nine-gold, four-silver medal haul and best boy award in the PASC 2nd Short Course Swimming Championship, six-gold, two-silver medal tally in PASC Inter-Club Swimming Championship as well as winning five golds, one silver and one bronze plus the best boy award at the 5th PASC Inter-Primary School Swimming Championships.
He will compete in more competitions this year and among them are the 58th Milo-Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championship at Bukit Jalil National Aquatic Centre in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 13 to 16, Mas/Milo/ NSC SportExcel Junior Swimming Circuit 1 in Selangor from May 13 to 14, Circuit 2 in Perak from July 1 to 2, and Grand Final in Bukit Jalil from Aug 12 to 13, 3rd Sarawak Short Course Sprint from Sept 15 to 17 as well as Datuk Patinggi Dr Wong Soon Kai Swimming Championship in December.