The Star : Tia'a sinks his Faang in another national record

BY TAN MING WAI

Faang Der in jubilant form after winning the men's 200m butterfly at Sarawak Aquatics Centre. - GLENN GUAN / The Star

KUCHING: Breaking long-standing records is fast becoming Johor swimmer Tia’a Faang Der’s speciality.

The 19-year-old shattered the 16-year-old 200m Sukma butterfly record on his way to the gold medal at the Sarawak Aquatics Centre in Petra Jaya.

Faang Der’s superb effort of 2:02.93, which earned him the second gold of his campaign, broke Lim Keng Liat’s mark of 2:03.91 set at the 2000 Games in Penang.

Last December, Faang Der erased the 18-year-old 400m individual medley national record of 4:32.75 set by Wan Azlan Abdullah at the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta with a 4:32.49 time during the South East Asia Age Group swimming championships in Vietnam.

“I was confident of winning the race but breaking Keng Liat’s record was surely not in the plan,” said Faang Der, who also clinched the 400IM title on Saturday.

“The 200m butterfly and 400IM are my pet events, so having won the two, I have already accomplished my goals for this Sukma.”

Three meet records fell on Monday, the third day of the swimming competition.

Selangor’s Shaun Yap and Christina Loh of Federal Territories won the men’s and women’s 50m breaststroke races in new meet record times.

Shaun touched the wall in 29.31 to better his own record of 29.52 set in Perlis two years ago. Christina beat her 2012 Pahang Games mark of 33.40 with a 33.29 timing.

Selangor’s quartet of Chan Jie, Daniel Lim Jun Liang, Yeap Zheng Yang and Jordan Yip set the other record in retaining the men’s 4x100m freestyle gold medal in a new Games record of 3:28.22.

Zheng Yang and Chan Jie were two members of the team who set the record of 3:30.39 in Perlis.

Hosts Sarawak were also in gold hunting mood as their star Angela Chieng retained her 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle titles.