AYG Swimming: Quah Ting Wen stops Korean wave to take fourth gold for Singapore

Story by Jan Lin/Red Sports. Photos by Leslie Tan/Red Sports.

Singapore Sports School, Friday, July 3, 2009 – The Koreans have been making a huge splash at the Asian Youth Games (AYG) swimming competition but Singapore’s Quah Ting Wen pipped them for gold in the 200m freestyle final.

Singapore’s Lionel Khoo, Rainer Ng and Roanne Ho also added to the medal count with bronze finishes.

16-year-old Ting Wen belongs to the Republic’s new generation of swimming queens along with the likes of Tao Li and Lynette Lim, as the current national records are predominantly shared amongst the trio.

Ting Wen, of Raffles Institution, has 6 national records to her name and made a huge statement in her first final appearance at the AYG, clocking a sub-2 minute finish in the 200m freestyle final.

“I’m very happy to make it under two minutes,” said Ting Wen on her 1:59.21 minutes gold-plated finish.

Ting Wen was constantly threatened by the Korean pair of Kim Junghye and Kim Seoyeong, who took the silver and bronze respectively, but she accelerated to break free from them in the final 25 metres.

Fellow freestyle specialist Lynette, became a victim of the Korean wave as she could only manage a 2:03.53 minutes swim to finish fourth in the same final, missing out on her second AYG medal.

Singapore’s Roanne Ho Ru’en also smashed her national record of 33.01 seconds in the women’s 50m breaststroke, which she set at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune last year.

The 17-year-old clocked an impressive sub-33s time of 32.44 seconds to take the bronze medal.

“It was exciting!” exclaimed a jubilant Roanne, who is studying in Queensland’s St Peters Lutheran College. “I could hear everyone cheering. It was so loud!”

In the same event for the boys that concluded with extremely tight podium finishes, Singapore’s Lionel Khoo Chien Yin safeguarded the 50m breaststroke bronze in a time of 29.84 seconds.

Swimming in lane three after finishing third in the semi-finals, the 14-year-old Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) student bettered his own personal best of 30.53 seconds which he had clocked in March this year.

Schoolmate Joel Chong Cheng Peng also set a personal best of 30.91 seconds to finish 5th.

The well-built China representatives Sun Yuchen and Wang Ximing, who stood head and shoulders above Lionel, gave China a 1-2 finish with times of 29.16 and 29.28 seconds respectively. Their compatriot in the girls’ event, Wang Chang, took gold in 31.80 seconds.

Rainer Ng Kai Wee of Raffles Institution then completed Singapore’s medal haul on the second evening of the swimming competition in the 100m backstroke final with a time of 58.67 seconds, which was just outside his personal best of 58.19 seconds set in March this year.

Rainer’s school mate, Yeo Jiachen, finished in 7th position with a time of 1:00.79 minutes.

Kuwait’s Abdullah Althuwaini was unstoppable in his quest for gold in this event as he took the throne in a superior time of 56.71 seconds, which delivered his country’s first AYG gold medal. Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Baimanov clocked 58.47 seconds to finish runners-up.

There was, however, a terrible heartbreak for Singapore’s 4×100 meters freestyle relay team of Jonathan Poh Soon Qin, Pang Shengjun, Clement Lim Yong En and Yeo Jiachen, who finished the race in 3:30.08 minutes.

The boys missed out on a bronze medal by just 0.15 seconds.

China mounted the podium at the expense of the hosts for the bronze, while Korea continued to extend their swimming medal haul with another silver medal.

The gold medal went to the Hong Kong boys, who had raced to an astounding finish clocking a time of 3:27.28 minutes.

The only consolation for the Singapore boys is that their time of 3:30.08 minutes shaved a massive 4 seconds off Singapore’s 4-year-old under-17 national record of 3:34.42 that was set by Bryan Tay, Ryan Ho, Russell Ong and Joshua Lim in 2005.

The swimmers have now contributed 2 gold and 3 bronze medals to Singapore’s medal quest at the inaugural AYG on the second day of the swimming competition alone. This brings the host’s medal count to 4 gold and 9 bronze medals for 6th position on the medal tally.