The NST : Siew Hui and Welson the stars again

By FADHLI ISHAK | fadhli Ishak@mediaprima.com.my

THE TOAST: Crack records on way to wins

SARAWAK'S Welson Sim and Yap Siew Hui of Selangor were again the standout performers on the second day of the Malaysia Schools Sports Council (MSSM) swimming championships with both setting records yesterday.

Siew Hui took close to a second off Hii Siew Siew's mark of one minute 4.01 seconds, set in 2009, en route to clinching the gold medal in the girls' Under-16 100-metre butterfly at the Darul Ehsan Aquatic Complex in Shah Alam.

The 15-year-old, who on Monday broke the 50m butterfly record, yesterday won in 1:03.06s with the silver going to teammate Asmalia Filzati who clocked 1:05.55s. Third was Federal Territories' Tan Rou Ying on 1:06.83s.

Despite two gold medals in the bag, the Bukit Jalil Sports School student said she was hungry for more.

"I was pushing quite hard today (yesterday) and am very happy that I managed to break another record," said Siew Hui, who joined the national elite set-up last December.

"I feel I have improved a lot since joining the national team. I have learned to specialise more and my strokes have improved a lot."

She added: "Physically I still feel strong and have the backstroke, freestyle and individual medley events coming up. Although they are not my pet events, I will give it my best."

Siew Hui, however, had to settle for silver in the 200m backstroke in 2:39.59s. Rou Ying took gold in 2:38.28s with FT's Zoe Bowden third in 2:41.12s.

Yap Siew Hui won gold in the Under-16 butterfly yesterday

Welson, who broke Daniel Bego's eight-year-old 200m freestyle record on Monday, yesterday won the boys' Under-18 1500m freestyle in a record time of 16:13.17s. The old time of 16:35.56s was set by Selangor's Kevin Lim in 2009.

Johor's Tia'a Faang Der took silver in 17:09.15s while bronze went to Sarawak's Ngu Jiung Wei (17:15.08s).

Meanwhile, the water polo competition saw defending champions Malacca grab their second group stage win with a commanding 16-3 victory over fellow contenders FT. Perak, who lost their opening game to Malacca on Monday, rebounded with a 20-7 win over Sabah while Selangor eased past Penang 31-7.

In diving, FT's Hanis Nazirul Jayasurya, who is set to join the national back-up squad later this year, proved his pedigree when he eased to the boys' Under-12 1m springboard gold with a 194.30 score.

In second place was Selangor's Ikhlas Ahmad Sharol Lail on 178.95 while Sabah's Jellson Jabillin (175.90) clinched the bronze.

The girls' Under-12 1m springboard saw Selangor's Megan Elizabeth Teoh cruise to victory with a score of 167.65 ahead of Sarawak's Kimberly (134.70). Sabah's Nur Ain Naadzmi was third on 134.50.