KUCHING, July 24 — National swimmer Lim Ching Hwang closed the second day of the 18th Sukma swimming competitions in style by renewing his own National record in the men’s 200m individual medley.
The Federal Territories swimmer clocked 2 minutes 04.77 seconds to erase his own mark of 2:04.89s that he had set in the United States.
Speaking to reporters after the prize presentation, the Ohio State University student was filled with joy after the feat.
“I was sick in the past week so actually was not sure how I was going to perform this week but looking at my time, I am very satisfied. Yes, I was more into freestyle, when I did individual medley at a competition in the US.
“I did very well. So my coach advised me to focus on medley to try to qualify for Olympics since my time was close to Category B,” the 20-year-old said.
Selangor’s Jordan Yip Zhu Ern won the silver with 2:08.91s while Sabah’s Eric Tan Chee Yung took the bronze after clocking 2:11.38s.
Lim had earlier secured a bronze in the 100m freestyle event after clocking 51.76s in the race that was won by another national swimmer Keith Lim from Federal Territories with a meet record.
Lim clocked 50.77s to beat the 50.94s set by Selangor’s Foo Jian Beng in 2008.
Selangor continued to dominate the pool events today by claiming four gold and four silver while Federal Territories finished with two gold medals.
With today’s haul, Selangor lead the swimming medal tally after two days with eight gold, eight silver and three bronze followed by Federal Territories (3-5-3), Johor (3-1-2), Sarawak (1-1-1) and Penang (1-0-2).
Swimming events continue tomorrow. — Bernama
