S’pore swimmers get good report card

SINGAPORE — They came up against some of the world’s best young swimmers at the 5th FINA World Junior Championships, and while Team Singapore did not win any medals at the six-day meet, national assistant coach Gary Tan was happy with the 22-strong squad’s performance here.

A total of four national age-group records — men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay, men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relay — were broken during the championships, while Quah Jing Wen’s time of 2:18.72 in the women’s 200m individual medley met the Olympic “B” qualifying time for the event.

Singapore’s swimmers also ended the final day of the biennial championships last night on a high, as the quartet of Francis Fong, Samuel Khoo, Dylan Koo and Darren Lim secured a berth in the final of the men’s 4x100m medley relay — the first Singaporeans to do so in the meet — after Poland was disqualified as they had turned up late for registration. They eventually finished last in the final with a time of 3:47.40.

Tan believes the experience of competing among the world’s top swimmers will spur his charges to do better. “Participating in these meets will give the swimmers more experience, as well as instil in them the confidence and belief they can go up against some of the world’s best.

“Most of them have improved their rankings here, and a lot of them didn’t expect to get close to the top 16 at this tournament, but they did. Overall, I think they’ve done a very good job and the rest of the countries have also complimented us on our cohesiveness and are impressed with the ability we have shown as well,” he said

Added Singapore Swimming Association president Lee Kok Choy: “We’re very satisfied with the performances of our swimmers at this meet.

“Or course, we would love to send our young swimmers for more meets such as this because this is a very important developmental stage for them. But it also depends on the budget that we have and the costs as well.”

The national sports association is also confident that this batch of young swimmers will be able to play a significant role in helping Singapore retain its status as top swimming nation at the SEA Games in Malaysia in 2017.

“We want the senior swimmers to continue through to the 2017 SEA Games, but we also need to have new follow-through of a younger generation of swimmers coming through, and I think they’re capable of not only qualifying but also putting up some medals as well,” said Tan. NOAH TAN