Malaysia end SEA swim meet with three golds
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian swimmers made amends on the final day of the Southeast Asia (SEA) Championships in Singapore yesterday by splashing to three golds.
Chong Xin Lin finally won a gold, in the girls' 16-18 50m backstroke with 29.42s, which also broke the long standing meet record of 29.76s set by Vietnam's Nguyen Thi Anh Vien in 2014.
Indonesia's Alexandra Chelsea won silver (29.59s) and Vietnam's Nguyen Ngoc Thuy Tien was third (29.62s).
Xin Lin had to settle for silver in the 200m backstroke on Thursday and fourth place in the 100m backstroke on Wednesday.
National swimming coach Eric Anderson said: "Xin Lin swam the second fastest ever time in Malaysia for 50m backstroke and that's just an indication of where she is headed with the Thailand Sea Games in December.
"Her peers are all there and it's all part of the learning process as we prepare for the Sea Games," he said.
It was at the same pool in the Singapore National Championships last year, when Xin Lin clocked 29.33s to break the national record of 29.51s set by Caroline Chan back in 2016.
Malaysia bagged two more golds yesterday. Ch'ng Saw Huai won the boys' 14-15 200m butterfly gold (2:09.21s) and Sheamus Chew won the boys' 13 and below 100m freestyle (56.06s).
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