NEW CLARK CITY, Dec 9 — Winning two golds and one bronze at the 30th SEA Games here was a revival of sorts for the sporting career of national women’s elite swimmer Phee Jinq En.
The 18-year-old said she was happy with her achievement as she had failed to show any improvement in international competitions after the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games two years ago.
Today, she rewrote her own SEA Games record in her pet event, 100 metres breaststroke, with a time of one minute 08.50 seconds on the final day of swimming competition at the New Clark City Aquatics Center here.
Her time is just 0.10 of a second faster than her previous record set in 2017.
It was Jinq En’s second gold, having won the 50 metres breaststroke title and the bronze in the 200 metres breaststroke earlier.
“I feel grateful for breaking my own national record and also the SEA Games (mark),” Jinq En told reporters.
“Winning two golds really makes my day since I’ve travelled all the way from the United States just to take part in the SEA Games,” said Jing En, who is pursuing a double major in marketing and management at the Purdue University in Indiana.
In contrast to Jing En’s performance, fellow elite swimmer Welson Sim Wee Sheng was a letdown as he ended his campaign without any gold.
The 22-year-old Sarawakian collected just two silvers and one bronze at these Games, compared to two golds and one silver in 2017.
In today’s action, the national quartet of Sim, Khiew Hoe Yean, Daniel Lim and Chan Jie came in last out of four teams in the men’s 4x100 metres medley relay in a time of three minutes 45.35 seconds.
Regional powerhouse Singapore continued to dominate the swimming competition with a massive haul of 23 gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals, followed by Vietnam with a count of 10-6-9 while Malaysia are third with 2-2-3. — Bernama
