Keith Lim proved ability with flying time in Malaysia Open 2013

The 56th Malaysia Open Swimming Championships 2013 was held in the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur from 16-19 May, 2013 with participations from Hong Kong and India apart from our own local state teams. Compared to last year the participation of foreign teams were much lesser.

The championships was won by Team Selangor with 13 gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze followed by Negeri Sembilan (5-0-0) and Sabah (4-4-4). Team Kuala Lumpur settled for a lower position with collection of 2 gold, 6 silver and 7 bronze even though it collected the second highest medals in total.

The KL gold contributor was from Ian James Barr's 400m IM and 200m IM when he finished ahead of the rest with a winning time of 4:41.29s and 2:06.75s respectively. Ian has to settle for silver in both his 50m and 100m backstroke and a bronze for his 200m backstroke behind Tern Jian Han (Jhr).

Ian James Barr (middle) with Sabahan swimmers Eric Tan (left) and Max Hollybell (right) in the 400m IM medal presentation 

Christina Loh

Christina Loh managed two silver in her 50m and 100m breaststroke after being edged by her senior Siow Yi Ting (NS).

Meanwhile, Tan Rou Ying, also contributed her fair share by clinching 2 bronze in her individual backstroke events.

In the relay events, the city girls won silver in the 4x100m medley relay and 2 bronze in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays.

The KL girls in 4x100m medley relay (L-R : Kimberly Ong, Christina Loh, Mak Ai Sin, Tan Rou Ying)

The KL girls in 4x200m free relay (L-R : Tan Rou Ying, Kimberly Ong, Nur Hanisah, Mak Ai Sin)

The Malaysia Open swimming competition proved to be a great splashing ground for developing swimmers to race against the national swimmers and bigger giants from the international front. It was definitely challenging for the amateurs.

Upcoming IBSC swimmer, Keith Lim, 15, did the club proud when he secured a spot in the prelim heats in 100m butterfly event after improving on his seed time of 59.00s with a qualifying time of 57.58s. In the evening final, he swam along side Daniel Bego (Swk) and Chan Jie (Sel). Even though with lesser muscles to flaunt compared to the national hulks, Keith proved himself by flying to the touch pad and dipped to an even lower PB time of 56.73s to grab the bronze after the senior swimmers. With this new PB, Keith was very happy with his performance as he also hit the Youth Olympic Games B time.

Keith made his dad proud by earning his first medal in Malaysia Open in 100m butterfly with impressive time of 56.73s

Meanwhile, other younger IBSC swimmers gained rich experience in the championships. They may not have make it to the top but with courageous swim against high tide, many young swimmers have displayed great fighting spirits and improved their PBs tremendously.

The total of 15 medals by the KL team were the effort from the following swimmers.

Gold
Ian James Barr (400m IM 4:41.29s, 200m IM 2:06.75s)

Silver
Christina Loh (100m breaststroke 1:12.06s, 50m breaststroke 32.96s)
Ian James Barr (50m backstroke 27.11s, 100m backstroke 58.66s)
Women 4x100m Medley Relay (Tan Rou Ying, Christina Loh, Mak Ai Sin, Kimberly Ong 4:33.58s)
Men 4x200m Freestyle Relay (Keith Lim, Nicholas Soon, Stefan Steinar, Ian James Barr 8:24.38s)

Bronze
Ian James Barr (200m backstroke 2:11.95s)
Tan Rou Ying (50m backstroke 32.07s, 200m backstroke 2:31.00s)
Keith Lim (100m butterfly 56.73s)
Men 4x100m Medley Relay (Yeo Jin Jie, Ian James Barr, Keith Lim, Danial Fauzi 4:02.51s)
Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Mak Ai Sin, Kimberly Ong, Christina Loh, Tan Rou Ying 4:11.27s)
Women 4x200m Freestyle Relay (Tan Rou Ying, Kimberly Ong, Nur Hanisah Mutalib, Mak Ai Sin 9:21.25s)

The 56th Malaysia Open Full Results can be downloaded here.

See more photos at IBSC Gallery.