The Star - Junior swimmers made a splash in SEA age-group meet

Tuesday June 5, 2012

PETALING JAYA: The youngest Malaysian swimmers gave a glimmer of hope for the future by making a splash in the just-concluded South-East Asia age-group swimming championships in Palembang.

Those competing in the Under-12 category contributed nine of the 14 gold medals won in the three-day meet.

Kuala Lumpur’s Tan Rou Ying showed she could be the next Sia Wai Yen by hauling in four gold medals in her first competition at regional level.

Rou Ying came out tops in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle as well as the 200m individual medley in the girls’ Under-12 category.

Having also broken former SEA Games gold medallist Wai Yen’s long standing record in the backstroke and freestyle races at the Kuala Lumpur age group meet this year, one is bound to hear more of Rou Ying in the future.

Selangor also look to have unearthed two budding stars – Nadia Andrianna and Asmalia Filzati Redzuan – in the same age category.

Nadia bagged gold medals in the 50m and 200m breaststroke while Filzati won the 200m butterfly. The two remaining gold medals in the category came from Wong Jun Bin in the boys’ 200m and 1,500m freestyle.

Wong Fu Kang swept all three (50m, 100m and 200m) breaststroke titles in the boys’ 13-14 group while Sarawakian Welson Sim also had a gold to show for after winning the boys’ 1,500m freestyle on the last day of competition.

Yap Siew Hui was the only Malaysian gold medallist in the girls’ 13-14 age group with her triumph in the 50m butterfly.

It was a satisfactory achievement considering that Malaysia only sent 10 swimmers – six boys and four girls – for the meet.

Malaysia could have ended with more if they had sent top juniors like Ian James Barr, Vernon Lee and Indonesia SEA Games breaststroke gold medallist Christina Loh.

Though eligible to compete in the 15 to 17 age group category, they decided to focus on the SEA Swimming Championships in Singapore later this month. The inaugural meet, from July 13-17, will be the final chance for the swimmers to beat the qualifying times for the London Olympics.