By LIM TEIK HUAT
PETALING JAYA: Siow Yi Ting (pic) may be the oldest in the national swimming squad but she has no intention to throw in the towel anytime soon.
The 27-year-old swimmer is set for another fling with five other Malaysians at the World Championships in Barcelona from July 19-Aug 4 after a successful mission at the Singapore national age-group swimming championships recently.
Yi Ting made the grade for two of her events – the 200m individual medley and 200m breaststroke.
The Negri Sembilan lass will be defending her titles in the two disciplines in the Myanmar SEA Games at the end of this year and it is to her credit to have surpassed the qualifying standards early.
The qualifying deadline for the world meet only ends in early July.
Yi Ting clocked 2:19.06 to win the girls’ 18 and over 200m individual medley, dipping under the qualifying mark of 2:19.69.
For the 200m breaststroke, Yi Ting posted 2:32.76 to go under the qualifying time of 2:33.06.
She also chalked a double by winning the 100m breaststroke in 1:11.13 ahead of Malaysian team-mate Christina Loh, who came in second in 1:11.37.
Yi Ting last took part in the 2009 World Championships in Rome but missed the previous edition in Shanghai two years ago to complete her studies.
Yi Ting graduated with a BA in Arts and Sculpture from the University of Arkansas in the United States that summer before returning home in August to train in Bukit Jalil under national coach Paul Birmingham.
Also making the grade from the Singapore age-group meet is Lim Ching Hwang, who claimed impressive wins in the boys’ 15-17 age-group 100m and 200m freestyle races.
The Singapore-based Ching Hwang, a multiple gold medallist for Selangor at the Kuantan Sukma last year, posted 1:50.42 in the 200m freestyle.
Ching Hwang is guaranteed a debut appearance at the world meet for the discipline as he comfortably beat the qualifying time of 1:52.21. Ching Hwang also won the 100m freestyle in 50.87 and came in second in the 50m freestyle in 23.93.
Kevin Yeap and Khoo Cai Lin already met the qualifying time for the men’s 400m freestyle and women’s 800m freestyle at the London Olympics and Asian Championships in Dubai respectively.
Kevin posted a winning time of 3:57.29 in Singapore but said it is a slower time.
“I went under the 1:54 mark in Dubai last year. I still want to improve on it and the national age-group meet in Bukit Jalil later this month will be my next assignment,” said Kevin, the SEA Games gold medallist in Indonesia.
Daniel Bego also made the cut for the 200m freestyle (1:52.04) and 400m freestyle (3:57.36) while Christina will earn a second world meet appearance after winning the girls’ 18 and over 50m breaststroke race in 33:05. The qualifying mark for the 50m breaststroke is 33.12.
The qualifying time for the 400m freestyle is 3:57.58 while Cai Lin also made the cut from the Olympics last year in the 400m freestyle.
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