Story by Iman Hashim and Chan Hua Zheng/Red Sports. Photos by Chua Kai Yun and Soh Jun Wei/Red Sports.
Marcus Choo completing the breaststroke leg during the boys’ 200m IM event at the 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships. He finished first in the 9 year old age group with a timing of 2:50.14, breaking the meet record of 2:55.10 set by Gabriel Koo in 2014. (Photo 1 © Chua Kai Yun/Red Sports)
OCBC Aquatic Centre, Saturday, March 12, 2016 — Three 9-year-old boys – namely Marcus Choo, Matthew Ang and Nathan Lim – stole the show on Day 2 of the Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships as two meet records fell.
Nathan Lim of Ace Swim Club (ASC) was the first boy to turn heads as he clocked 2 minutes 54.21 seconds in the 200 metres individual medley to go under the two-year-old mark (2:55.10) held by Gabriel Koo.
Unfortunately for Nathan, his record lasted for barely a few minutes as Marcus Choo of Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) staked his claim to it by swimming a clear four seconds faster in the following timed final, setting the new mark at an impressive 2:50.14.
In the same event, Matthew Ang, also of ASC, finished third in 2:58.31.
On his record-breaking swim, Marcus commented, “I am very happy with my performance as I didn’t expect to break the meet record. My future aim is to win an Olympic medal.”
The same three boys were battling it out again in the afternoon in the 100m breaststroke, in the process felling another meet record.
It was deja vu for Nathan, who clocked 1:32.05 in the eighth timed final to yet again be the first to break a record, this time the 1:32.72 set by Brilliant Chua in 2008 – and then had his elation cut short as both Matthew and Marcus swam faster in the next two timed finals, in timings of 1:31.26 and 1:31.04 respectively.
Alas, it was disappointment for Marcus as well, as he was disqualified – which meant that Matthew took the honours and meet record.
Even though Nathan missed out on winning these two events and stamping his name in the record books, it was far from a bad day for him. In addition to the two silver medals, he clinched two gold medals on the same day in the 50m and 100m butterfly events for 9-year-olds.
For the longer butterfly race in the morning, he clocked 1:21.95 while he finished the 50m race in 36.79s in the afternoon.
These were Nathan’s second and third golds of the championships after he won the 50m freestyle on the first day of competition, getting the better of both Marcus and Matthew then, who finished with the silver and bronze respectively.
On his eventful day of races, Nathan remarked, “I feel happy and disappointed at the same time. I won two of my races and broke two of the meet records that were broken by my friends in the subsequent races. I’m very happy for them, but also spurred on to train harder and become a stronger swimmer.”
Apart from the three 9-year-old boys, Ephraim Tan, 12, continued his stellar showing in the championships with four wins on the second day – bringing his total tally to six gold medals so far.
He won the 100m butterfly (1:05.41), 200m individual medley (2:30.62), 50m butterfly (30.21s) and 400m freestyle (4:40.02), adding to the golds he won in the 50m freestyle and 400m IM on Day 1.
Eight-year-old Reagan Cheng is also another boy to look out for – he won two golds (100m butterfly and 100m breaststroke) and one silver (50m butterfly) to add to his gold in the 50m freestyle the previous day.
The last day of competition for the junior competitors will be on Sunday, March 13.
Boys Results – Day 2 (Morning Session)
Boys 11 Year Olds 200m Backstroke
1st Mateen Shyam — 2:42.11
2nd Russel Loo Zhi Yang — 2:45.94
3rd Mirza Ikram Hameed — 2:47.35
Boys 12 Year Olds 200m Backstroke
1st Christian Low Tze Hang — 2:33.80
2nd Zachary Tan — 2:37.13
3rd Aloysius Wong Zhi Hong — 2:40.01
Boys 8 Year Olds 100m Butterfly
1st Reagan Cheng — 1:37.01
2nd Mike Lee Kang Le — 1:41.19
3rd Sophocles Ng Xinxian — 1:43.86
Boys 9 Year Olds 100m Butterfly
1st Nathan Lim — 1:21.95
2nd Bryan Ng — 1:24.60
3rd Liu Wuyang — 1:32.55
Boys 10 Year Olds 100m Butterfly
1st Jerome Thio — 1:15.99
2nd Micaiah Tan — 1:17.22
3rd Lachlan Saputra Goh — 1:17.22
Boys 11 Year Olds 100m Butterfly
1st Gabriel Koo Yingxuan — 1:11.98
2nd Connor Schuster — 1:12.84
3rd Jadon Yoong Jia Zhong — 1:13.81
Boys 12 Year Olds 100m Butterfly
1st Ephraim Tan — 1:05.41
2nd Maximus Liew Zhi Jiee — 1:09.94
3rd Alan Lo Ze — 1:10.32
Boys 9 Year Olds 200m Individual Medley
1st Marcus Choo Zhengxiang — 2:50.14 (Meet Record)
2nd Nathan Lim — 2:54.21
3rd Matthew Ang Yu Zhe — 2:58.31
Boys 10 Year Olds 200m Individual Medley
1st Marc Lim Qi Xian — 2:46.91
2nd Ng Yi Wang — 2:48.75
3rd Lachlan Saputra Goh — 2:49.14
Boys 11 Year Olds 200m Individual Medley
1st Mateen Shyam — 2:42.61
2nd Gabriel Koo Yingxuan — 2:43.01
3rd Jadon Yoong Jia Zhong — 2:43.68
Boys 12 Year Olds 200m Individual Medley
1st Ephraim Tan — 2:30.62
2nd Christian Low Tze Hang — 2:32.24
3rd Terence Ong Yi Hao — 2:36.99
Boys Results – Day 2 (Afternoon Session)
Boys 8 Year Olds 50m Butterfly
1st Aidan Koh — 38.14 seconds
2nd Reagan Cheng — 38.94
3rd Tiger Christiano Leecov — 42.23
Boys 9 Year Olds 50m Butterfly
1st Nathan Lim — 36.79 seconds
2nd Bryan Ng — 37.29
3rd Matthew Ang — 37.68
Boys 10 Year Olds 50m Butterfly
1st Ng Yi Wang — 33.92 seconds
2nd Marcus Ong Chen Jie — 33.96
3rd Jerome Thio — 34.38
Boys 11 Year Olds 50m Butterfly
1st Connor Schuster — 31.53 seconds
2nd Russel Loo Zhi Yang — 32.91
3rd Gabriel Koo Yingxuan — 33.04
Boys 12 Year Olds 50m Butterfly
1st Ephraim Tan — 30.21 seconds
2nd Alan Lo Ze — 31.08
3rd Dexter Foo Chuan Fan — 32.07
Boys 8 Year Olds 100m Breaststroke
1st Reagan Cheng — 1:41.40
2nd Zavv Lee Xian Le — 1:41.54
3rd Luke Ang Yukai — 1:46.60
Boys 9 Year Olds 100m Breaststroke
1st Matthew Ang Yu Zhe — 1:31.26 (Meet Record)
2nd Nathan Lim — 1:32.05
3rd Kooi Xiu Yuan — 1:36.47
Boys 10 Year Olds 100m Breaststroke
1st Lennon Yu — 1:29.24
2nd Lachlan Saputra Goh — 1:29.32
3rd Jerome Thio — 1:30.36
Boys 11 Year Olds 100m Breaststroke
1st Jadon Yoong Jia Zhong — 1:23.20
2nd Marc Yeo Tze Wen — 1:24.17
3rd Jordan Ong Wei Ern — 1:24.30
Boys 12 Year Olds 100m Breaststroke
1st Jeng Ong — 1:19.40
2nd Leon Tay Kia Yong — 1:20.36
3rd Alan Lo Ze — 1:20.55
Boys 11 Year Olds 400m Freestyle
1st James Lim Chern Yait — 4:59.30
2nd Gabriel Koo Yingxuan — 5:00.40
3rd Connor Schuster — 5:06.18
Boys 12 Year Olds 400m Freestyle
1st Ephraim Tan — 4:40.02
2nd Terence Ong Yi Hao — 4:48.95
3rd Christian Low — 4:49.09
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