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Young swimmer has his eyes set on bigger games

SINGAPORE — Unlike established Singapore national swimmers such as Joseph Schooling and Tao Li, Maximillian Ang’s name may not ring a bell. But that may well change in the future.

Maximillian Ang at Yakult 10th Singapore National Swimming Championship on 19 Dec. PHOTO: WEE TECK HIAN

Maximillian Ang at Yakult 10th Singapore National Swimming Championship on 19 Dec. PHOTO: WEE TECK HIAN

SINGAPORE — Unlike established Singapore national swimmers such as Joseph Schooling and Tao Li, Maximillian Ang’s name may not ring a bell. But that may well change in the future.

Yesterday, the 13-year-old rewrote the national under-14 record in the men’s 400m individual medley (IM) when he clocked 4min 48.13secs on the fifth day of competition at the 10th Yakult Singapore National Swimming Championships at the OCBC Arena, beating the previous benchmark of 4:49.51 set by Dylan Koo last year.

Malcolm Low won in 4:33.80, while Darren Chua (4:39.18) and Dylan (4:41.38) took second and third placing, respectively, with Maximillian in fourth.

It is the latest achievement by the Singapore Sports School student, having also bagged three gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the South-east Asian (SEA) Age Group Swimming Championships in June.

And although it was some distance off the event’s qualifying mark of 4:25.34 for next year’s SEA Games in Singapore, Maximillian remained optimistic about meeting the qualifying mark of 2:05.06 — set by Thailand’s Nuttapong Ketin at last year’s SEA Games in Myanmar — for the 200 IM on the penultimate day of the week-long meet today.

“I have been gunning for this U-14 record and training for it for a year,” said the 1.72m-tall Maximillian.

“My results at this meet came as a surprise. I looked at the scoreboard and was shocked at my timing.”

Leonard Lim, his coach at the Singapore Sports School and who has coached him since he was seven, is aware of Maximillian’s potential.

“He took the MVP (Most Valuable Player) award at the SEA Age Group Championships and I think he has a good chance to go to the Olympics — maybe not the coming one in 2016, but in 2020,” said Lim.

“For a young athlete like him, it is important to take the pressure off sometimes, so I always try to do that, so he can swim without expectations as much as possible and that is when he can perform his best.”

Although he has yet to compete at the SEA Games, this is not stopping Maximillian from aiming higher.

The teenager said: “If I have a chance at a SEA Games debut next year, I hope to do well ... One day, I hope to go to the Olympics too.”

Meanwhile, national swimmers and siblings Quah Ting Wen and her brother Zheng Wen met the SEA Games qualifying mark for the women’s 200m freestyle and men’s 100m butterfly, respectively.

Ting Wen, 22, clocked 2min 01.46secs to win the race ahead of Marina Chan (2:04.39) and Rachel Tseng (2:04.90) to meet the qualifying mark of 2:02.62.

Zheng Wen also qualified for the 100m butterfly with a time of 53.63secs, meeting the benchmark of 53.93. Lionel Khoo (55.65) and Lim Jin Jie (58.20) came in second and third, respectively.

Only the two fastest swimmers in each event will be nominated by the Singapore Swimming Association to the Singapore National Olympic Council for selection to the 2015 SEA Games, which will also be the last coaching assignment for former national swimmer David Lim.

The two-time Olympian has been the head coach of Swimfast Aquatic Club for 20 years and now wants to take a break.

“I have been planning to take a back seat for a long time and still have about six months to guide my swimmers to do well at the SEA Games,” said Lim.

“I have three assistant coaches and will guide them to step up and take on heavier roles.”

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