JAKARTA — On a night when Joseph Schooling celebrated his second Asian Games gold in the men’s 50m butterfly, the penultimate day of the swimming competition at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre threw up plenty of drama that saw the Singaporean women pocketing two unexpected medals — a 50m breaststroke silver and a bronze in the women’s 4x100 medley relay — after a slew of disqualifications.

Olympic champion Joseph Schooling kicked off the day’s proceedings on Thursday evening (Aug 23) in the 50m fly, as the 23-year-old claimed his second gold of the Games.

Schooling, who had posted the quickest qualifying time of 23.84sec in the morning’s heats, dominated the one-lap race as he powered ahead of his rivals to claim top spot in 23.61sec and better his silver medal performance from 2014. In 2014, he splashed home in 23.70sec to take second place in the 50fly final, behind China’s Shi Yang who set a Games record time of 23.46sec.

“I feel great, I got another gold, which is a huge relief,” Schooling said. “The time wasn’t great but the most important thing is to get your hand on the wall first. It was very close and I didn’t know who won until I had to look up to the board and I almost couldn’t believe it.”

The United States-based swimmer, who turned professional this year, will be closing his 2018 Asian Games campaign with his sixth and last event, the men’s 4x100m medley relay, on Friday.

After enduring a poor 2017 and 2018 season in the pool, the Singaporean was happy to be back to winning ways in Indonesia.

He added: “I wouldn’t say this is an empathic statement (that I’m back on top), I’m just trying to do the best for my country. It’s awesome that I won the gold medal yesterday and added another gold today.

“I’m very satisfied with the last two days, and I’m very excited for tomorrow.”

With two wins in the 50m and 100m fly, the Asian butterfly king is eyeing more success in other events in future, in particular the 100m freestyle.

He added: “It’s always nice to swim something else and I can’t just stay in one stroke. Hopefully I can do well in it, and it’s something now that I can work on.”

GIRL POWER

While all eyes were on Schooling’s 50m swim on Thursday, the Singaporean women threatened to steal the three-time Asian champion’s thunder.

Roanne Ho clinched her first Asian Games medal — a silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke — and the women’s 4x100m medley relay of Hoong En Qi, Samantha Yeo, Quah Ting Wen, and Quah Jing Wen were awarded the bronze after China and South Korea were disqualified from the final.

Ho, 25, had initially finished third in 31.23sec behind Japan’s Satomi Suzuki and Miho Teramura, but she was bumped up to silver after Teramura was disqualified. This is the first-ever breaststroke medal for Singapore at the Asian Games.

Grinning from ear to ear after the victory ceremony, the gregarious swimmer said she was happy to even have made the starting blocks as she had been hit by stomach flu just three days ago.

Ho, who had made a remarkable comeback from injuries and a life-threatening collapsed lung in January 2016 which forced her to stop training for months, told reporters that she “vomited seven times and had diarrhoea three times within 45 minutes” after her 100m breaststroke race on Sunday.

She said: “I feel like the term ‘comeback queen’ is very apt for me. Three days ago I wasn’t even sure if I could make it to the heats. I told myself that I had a second shot at the finals, I would see what I could do.

“I saw that I was third and I was very surprised because there was so much shouting during the race, and I didn’t know if it was because I was in front or behind the others. When I saw I was second, I was even more surprised,” added the swimmer, who is competing in her third Asian Games.

The final race of the evening also delivered thrills and spills for spectators in the aquatics centre on Thursday.

Japan had claimed the gold in 3min 54.73sec, with China and South Korea initially placed second and third. The Hong Kong women finished fourth in 4:03.15, while Singapore was fifth after clocking 4:09.65.

Confusion, as well as astonishment, broke out on the pool deck and in the stands soon after as South Korea were disqualified by officials, gifting the bronze to Hong Kong. But there was another surprise in store for the swimmers as China was also disqualified, with the result promoting Hong Kong to silver, and the fifth-placed Singaporeans to a bronze medal.

As the initial shock turned into jubilation for the Singaporeans, the quartet embraced the Hong Kong team, crying tears of joy at clinching the Republic’s first Asian Games women’s relay medal since 1982.

The medal was made even sweeter for sisters Ting Wen and Jing Wen, as both were part of the mixed 4x100m medley relay team that was disqualified a day earlier due to an early takeoff or exchange between the two swimmers.

While waiting on the deck after the first disqualification, Jing Wen, 18, had even joked with her teammates that maybe another team would also be disqualified.

Ting Wen, 26, said: “I was a little bit nervous today and everyone did a very good job and kept the exchanges safe but fast. I’m still in shock, but I’m happy that our team got it right.”

An emotional Yeo told reporters: “We just put our heart and soul into the race… this is the first relay medal we have won together and it feels great to be getting something with this team.”

En Qi, 18, was delighted to win the bronze with the same teammates who had clinched gold in the 4x100m medley at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last year.

She said: “I’m super proud of them and we’ve come a long way together. We’ve improved a lot and we trust each other. This is a super unexpected result, I’m sorry that both teams had to go through disqualification…but I’m thankful to be on the podium.”

With one day of racing remaining on the Asian Games swimming calendar, Team Singapore’s 25-strong contingent have won seven medals in Indonesia, with two gold medals in the men’s 50m and 100m fly, a silver in the women’s 50m breaststroke, and three bronze medals in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, and women’s 4x100m medley relay.