The Star : Siew Hui completes sweep of short races in record times

Splashing to a double : Selangor's Yap Siew Hui powering her way to another 100m butterfly record in the girls' 13-15 age-group at the Shah Alam Aquatic Centre yesterday. - FAIHAN GHANI/ The Star

SHAH ALAM: Youngster Yap Siew Hui proved that she could be the right swimmer for the butterfly races after powering her way to another record in the MSSM (national schools) swimming championships at the Shah Alam Aquatic Centre yesterday.

The 15-year-old completed her double for Selangor by clocking 1:03.06 to break the previous mark of 1:04.01 held by former national swimmer Hii Siew Siew. The record in the girls’ 13-15 age-group for the 100m butterfly had stood since 2009.

Selangor team-mate Asmalia Filzati Redzuan took silver with 1:05.55 while Kuala Lumpur’s Tan Rou Ying finished third with 1:06.83.

Siew Hui, who also won the 50m butterfly on Monday with a new record, has amassed three golds and two silvers so far.

She also took gold in the 100m backstroke and the silver medal she earned yesterday came in the 200m backstroke, finishing behind Rou Ying. Despite completing a sweep of the short butterfly races in record times, Siew Hui was far from pleased with her efforts.

“I felt that I could have gone a second faster.

“The 50m and 100m butterfly are my two strong events and I’m happy to be able to break the meet records,” said last year’s Pahang Sukma gold medallist.

Siew Hui with her gold medal

“I still have six more events to go but I’m not setting high expectations as I’m stronger in the butterfly.

“I hope to swim for the country one day.”

Siew Hui joined the national squad based at Bukit Jalil early this year.

With Marellyn Liew having left the Bukit Jalil set-up, there is a pressing need to find a good woman butterfly swimmer for the SEA Games campaign in Myanmar.

Siew Hui appears to be the best bet at the moment, considering her time is better than the winning time in the girls’ 16-18 age-group (1:06.76 set by Mak Ai Sin of Selangor).

Sarawak’s Welson Sim also notched his second record in the national schools meet when he won the 1,500m freestyle Open race in 16:13.76.

The 15-year-old boy’s time eclipsed the previous mark of 16:35.56, which was set by Kevin Lim in 2009.