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No medals, but Singapore swimmers break two national records at Asian Games

​JAKARTA — There were no podium finishes for Singapore's national swimmers as the Asian Games swimming competition kicked off at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre on Sunday evening (Aug 19).

Quah Zheng Wen representing Singapore in the Men's 200m Butterfly Final at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre in Jakarta.

Quah Zheng Wen representing Singapore in the Men's 200m Butterfly Final at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre in Jakarta.

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JAKARTA — There were no podium finishes for Singapore's national swimmers as the Asian Games swimming competition kicked off at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre on Sunday evening (Aug 19).

Nevertheless, there were smiles among the 25-strong contingent as two national records were broken in the pool.

However, there was disappointment for up-and-coming swimmer Quah Zheng Wen, as he placed sixth in the men's 200m butterfly final after clocking 1:57.95, close to 2 sec shy of his personal best time of 1:56.01.

The women's 4x100m freestyle relay quartet of Quah Jing Wen, Quah Ting Wen, Christie Chue, and Cherlyn Yeo came the closest to winning Singapore's first Asian Games medal in Indonesia, as they finished fourth in a new national record time of 3min 44.21sec.

Japan clinched the gold in a thrilling sprint to the finish in a new Games record time of 3:36.52, with China and Hong Kong taking the silver and bronze respectively in 3:36.78 and 3:41.88.

Ting Wen, 26, the veteran of the team who competed at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games, was delighted with their performance, particularly as the quartet consisted of three debutants.

"(Achieving) a national record is a step in the right direction. I'm happy and satisfied" she said. "This is my fourth Games… It's getting competitive at home and swimmers are starting to push each other more. It's good, it helps us not to get too comfortable and get too complacent."

Jing Wen, the youngest of the three Quah siblings at 18, added: "Going into this race, there were definitely expectations as we always set ourselves high goals to reach. We showed with the new record that we put in our best."

Games debutant Cherlyn, 17, said the seniors had helped calm her nerves in the reporting area and call room before the race. "I feel pretty happy and proud of the team, we trained really hard coming into these Games and we left everything in the pool today, and I'm glad it turned out the way it did," she said.

Teenager Gan Ching Hwee also put in a creditable performance in her debut, as the 15-year-old finished fifth in a new personal best and national record in the women's 1,500m final with her time of 16:39.70, bettering Lynette Lim's 2009 mark of 16:41.49.

"I'm surprised because the race was definitely not that easy, it was pretty challenging considering that these swimmers are the best in Asia," said Gan, a Methodist Girls' School student.

"I tried to focus on my race plan and execution and I gave it all I had."

Zheng Wen, however, was disappointed with his performance. "I wanted more out of that, I was pretty far from my best and I know I can be way faster than that," said the United States-based swimmer.

"It's frustrating but the best thing I can do is put this behind me, just get on with the relays and feed on some positive energy from the team."

Meanwhile, the victory ceremony for the men's 200m freestyle was marred by a gaffe after a malfunction sent the hoist carrying the Chinese and Japanese flags crashing to the ground during the Chinese national anthem.

Organisers were initially unable to fix the problem, which meant that the flagbearers were unable to raise the countries' flags for the next two ceremonies. It was resolved eventually after the flag pole and hangers were replaced.

Chinese superstar Sun Yang, gold medallist in the 200m freestyle, was reluctant to talk about the matter on Sunday night, as he told reporters poolside that he "did not want to talk about this diplomatic incident".

Aside from the gaffe, it was business as usual in the swimming pool for the region's top swimmers, as China dominated the first day of competition with four gold medals from seven events. Three Games record were also broken in the women's 1,500m freestyle, women's 100m breaststroke, and women's 4x100m freestyle relay.

The Asian Games swimming competition ends on Friday.

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