Malaysia’s Sim steals the show

SINGAPORE — Spectators had turned out at the OCBC Aquatic Centre yesterday to catch Team Singapore in action at the Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships, with fans hopeful of seeing some quick times in the pool as the athletes made their bids for Olympic ‘A’ qualifying times to earn their spots in Rio.

Instead, it was a swimmer from across the Causeway who took the Aquatic Centre by storm last night, as Welson Sim booked his ticket to the Rio Games after surpassing the Olympic ‘A’ mark of 3min 50.40s in the 400m freestyle finals.

The 19-year-old beat Taiwan’s An Ting Yao (3min 54.57s and Singapore’s Danny Yeo (3min 56.10s) — who finished second and third respectively — to claim gold in 3min 50.33s.

The result also saw Sim — a gold medallist at last year’s SEA Games — becoming the first Malaysian swimmer since Alex Lim Keng Liat in 2004 to qualify automatically for the Olympics.

Grinning from ear to ear after the race, Sim said yesterday: “I’m very excited to have qualified for the Olympics as this is the first time that I’ll be going to the Games. I was expecting to hit the ‘A’ cut for both the 200m and 400m freestyle and I’ve managed to do one already, which gives me confidence for the other event tomorrow.

“I felt very good during the warm-ups and this gave me a boost before the race to swim my best. I’m looking forward to the 200m freestyle tomorrow and believe I can also reach the ‘A’ timing then, as my personal best time for that event is much closer than my previous personal best time for the 400m freestyle.”

While Sim’s sterling performance in the pool may not bode well for Singapore swimmers competing at next year’s SEA Games in Malaysia, Singapore national head coach Sergio Lopez was nonetheless happy to see another swimmer from the region earn his spot at the Olympics.

“I’ve seen Welson swim and I know the boy has huge talent,” said Lopez, 47. “I’m very happy for him that he managed to qualify for the Olympics today. It’s good that we have swimmers from Malaysia doing well, because this helps to raise the standard of swimming in the region as a whole and helps keep us on our toes as well.”

Despite their best efforts, Team Singapore’s swimmers could not hit their marks yesterday. Yeo, who is back in the pool after recovering from dengue fever, managed to shave off close to a second from his previous Olympic ‘B’ mark in the 400m freestyle, while compatriot Pang Sheng Jun did not compete after coming down with a stomach ailment.

Quah Zheng Wen, who has already qualified for the Olympics in three events — the 100m backstroke, 100m and 200m butterfly — did not make the ‘A’ cut in the 200m backstroke, posting a time of 2min 01.42s yesterday.

Teenager Glen Lim notched his second national Under-14 record last night, clocking 4min 09.95s in the 400m freestyle (13-14 years old category) to better Sng Ju Wei’s previous mark of 4min 10.68s. The 13-year-old had rewritten his Under-14 record in the 1,500m freestyle on Wednesday.