Story by REDintern Chantal Liew. Photos by Stefanus Ian/Red Sports.
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Friday, June 16, 2017 — The second day of the 13th Singapore National Swimming Championships saw the Quah sisters blitz the field again, this time in the Women’s 100-metre Freestyle. Younger sibling, Quah Jing Wen, managed to net another victory against her older sister, Ting Wen.
The 16-year-old Jing Wen set the pace of the race, turning first at the 50m mark in 27.21. She came home strongly and managed to hold off her older sister who was chasing her down over the last 15m. Jing Wen eventually came in first with a time of 56.47 seconds and Ting Wen took second place in a 56.62s. Sprint queen Amanda Lim snuck under the 57-second mark to take the last spot on the podium with a 56.90s.
The Women’s 50m Backstroke was another thrilling race with SEA Games-bound athlete Hoong En Qi taking gold in a personal best time of 29.52s. She overpowered all the other athletes and was the only swimmer to finish under the 30-second mark. Indonesia claimed the last two spots on the podium with 16-year-old Sofie Kemala finishing second with 30.06s and 19-year-old Istri Kania Ratih Anakagung third in 30.19s. Heavy favourite Quah Jing Wen failed to make the podium having slipped on the start. She finished sixth in a 30.79.
Hoong, who also won the 100m Backstroke the previous night, was delighted to achieve a personal best having just transitioned from the freestyle and butterfly events to the backstroke event.
“The past two years have been quite hard for me because my times have been stagnant and I’ve had a couple of injuries so I wasn’t improving. Switching to backstroke was initially quite tough because it’s a totally different thing but it was a good move on my part and it’s really boosted my confidence in swimming again,” said the 18-year old.
In the other events, Singaporean Deborah Ho claimed a bronze medal in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke with a time of 1:12.98 and Ashley Lim also came in third in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley with a time of 5:08.74.
The Singapore National Swimming Championships is the last preparatory meet before the SEA Games in KL this August.
Women’s Results Day 2
Women 100m Freestyle
1st Quah Jing Wen — 56.47
2nd Quah Ting Wen — 56.62
3rd Amanda Lim — 56.90
Women 100m Breaststroke
1st Vanessa Evato — 1:11.09
2nd Salubluek Chayunnooch — 1:12.23
3rd Deborah Ho — 1:12.98
Women 400m Individual Medley
1st Permatahani Azzahra — 4:52.18
2nd Larasati Adinda — 4:58.86
3rd Ashley Lim — 5:08.74
Women 50m Backstroke
1st Hoong En Qi — 29.52
2nd Sofie Kemala — 30.06
3rd Istri Kania Ratih Anakagung — 30.19
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