Thursday 27 March 2014

The NST : SWIMMING: Welson continues to sizzle

By Fadhli Ishak

SARAWAK'S very promising Welson Sim bagged his third gold medal at the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) swimming championships but more importantly improved on his second personal best time this week.

   The freestyle specialist, who is adept at both short and long distances, powered to gold in the boys' Under-18 100m freestyle clocking a commendable 51.88 seconds at the Shah Alam Aquatics Complex.
   The feat saw him break his own championship record of 52.94s set last year as well as his personal best of 52.21s which he had achieved at the Malaysian Open last season.

   Penang's Alwyn Tan took silver in 52.21s while Selangor's Yeap Zheng Yang finished third, clocking 53.08s.

   Welson, who has made substantial changes to his training regime since late last year, was delighted with his improvement but stressed there is more he wants to achieve in what is his last MSSM outing.
   "My coach Paul Birmingham (national elite coach) texted me to congratulate me on a good job. It feels great to get another PB (personal best) here," said the 17-year-old.

   "I have started to do strength training in the gym for the past four to five months and I believe it has started to pay off for me.

   "I still have the 50m and 400m freestyle events to go. My goal is to win them both and take all the freestyle events here. It would mean a lot to me, especially with this being my last MSSM."

    The Bukit Jalil Sports School student had already secured the 200m and 1,500m freestyle titles earlier this week in record times.

   Although he is not expected to make the Incheon Asian Games or Glasgow Commonwealth Games squads, Welson said he will give qualifying for both his best shot at the upcoming National Age Group Championships and the Malaysian Open which will be held over the next two months.

   More meet records were rewritten in the boys' Under-12 with Sarawak's Adrian Chua clinching the 100m freestyle in 59.27s while Malacca's Low Zheng Yong took the 200m individual medley in 2:29.35s, erasing the previous marks of 1:00.57s and 2:31.07s held by Tang Chong Heng and Eric Chang (both Sarawak) respectively.

   Kuala Lumpur's Wong Tzi Rok also set a new mark of 27.53s (old record of 27.58s set by Ian James Bar, Kuala Lumpur) in the boys' Under-18 50m backstroke while Nadia Adrianna Redza (Selangor) broke Lew Yih Wey's (Negri Sembilan) championship record of  2:24.97s when she won the girls' Under-15 200m individual medley gold in 2:24.57s.


Welson Sim won the Under-18 100m freestyle at the Shah Alam Aquatics Complex yesterday. Pic by Osman Adnan

Read more: SWIMMING: Welson continues to sizzle - Other - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/other/swimming-welson-continues-to-sizzle-1.534287#ixzz2x8nYeeFH


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