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Schooling and swim mates win Team Singapore's first medal at the Asian Games

JAKARTA — After two days of near misses in the competition arena in Jakarta and Palembang, Team Singapore finally got its medal campaign going at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia on Monday (Aug 20). The men's 4x200m freestyle relay quartet of Quah Zheng Wen, Joseph Schooling, Danny Yeo, and Jonathan Tan clinched Singapore's first medal — a bronze — at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre.

Men 4x200m Freestyle Final at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre in Jakarta on Monday (Aug 20). Team of Quah Zheng Wen (Left), Joseph Schooling (centre), Danny Yeo (right) and Jonathan Tan (not pictured). They won the bronze medal, setting a new National Record at 7min 14.15s in the process.

Men 4x200m Freestyle Final at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre in Jakarta on Monday (Aug 20). Team of Quah Zheng Wen (Left), Joseph Schooling (centre), Danny Yeo (right) and Jonathan Tan (not pictured). They won the bronze medal, setting a new National Record at 7min 14.15s in the process.

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JAKARTA — After two days of near misses in the competition arena in Jakarta and Palembang, Team Singapore finally got its medal campaign going at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia on Monday (Aug 20). The men's 4x200m freestyle relay quartet of Quah Zheng Wen, Joseph Schooling, Danny Yeo, and Jonathan Tan clinched Singapore's first medal — a bronze — at the Gelora Bung Karno Aquatics Centre.

The relay team clocked a new national time of 7min 14.15sec, shaving almost four seconds off the previous best of 7min 18.14sec set at the 2015 SEA Games.

Up against Asian giants Japan and China — featuring three-time Olympic gold medallist Sun Yang — Team Singapore knew they needed an element of surprise to better their rivals.

That came in the form of teenage debutant Jonathan, as National Training Centre head coach Gary Tan handed the 16-year-old his first appearance at the Asian Games in the relay.

United States-based swimmer Quah got the Singaporean quartet off to a flying start, as the 21-year-old led the team to third spot in the first leg of the 4x200m relay.

Olympic champion Schooling kept up the pace in the second leg, as he held off a challenge from the South Koreans before veteran Yeo dived in to take over the third leg.

In the last 200m, it was up to swimmer Jonathan to keep their medal hopes on track. With South Korea's Lee Hojoon taking the fight to the Singaporean teenager, Jonathan held off a late challenge and touched home third, to the delight of his senior teammates, who celebrated their triumph poolside with ecstatic whoops and high-fives.

Japan took the gold in a new Games record time of 7min 5.17sec, while China settled for the silver after clocking 7min 5.45sec.

COACH'S WORDS IN HIS HEAD

Looking a little dazed after winning a medal in the first race of his debut, Jonathan said: "On my last turn, I saw him (Lee) there, but I followed what my coach said, put my head down and raced towards the board.

"It's my first Games… but my team got my back, and right before I jumped in, they were still shouting at me and spurring me on. They just took the stress off and I just gave it my best shot."

Head coach Tan was delighted to see his faith in the young swimmer pay off, crediting the teenager for his tenacity and determination.

"We knew that South Korea would take the fight to us and we kept it quiet and didn't put our order of swimmers out (till late).

"No one expected Jonathan to be our last swimmer… I am very proud of him as he stepped it up and held his ground. Jonathan is a fighter. He has the tenacity and hunger, it was a risk (putting him in), but I knew he wouldn't back down."

Swimming in his first race of the Asian Games, Schooling, is aiming for more on Tuesday as he kicks off his first individual event, the 50m freestyle, before taking on the 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly and other relay events.

He said after the victory ceremony for the relay: "This is exactly how I want to start a meet. I'm very excited for the next four days.

"This is exactly what we wanted, you can build on the momentum from tonight. The next few days are going to be up and down, it's not going be perfect, but this is a great start."

TOUGH START

There was joy, and also relief, for Quah, who has endured a disappointing campaign so far after finishing sixth in the 200m butterfly and 50m backstroke.

The 21-year-old admitted that it has been a "tough start to the meet", but he is hopeful that there will be "more to come" in the next few days of competition in the pool.

Yeo was part of the quartet which also comprised Pang Sheng Jun, Teo Zhen Ren and Clement Lim, when they were awarded the men's 4x200m freestyle bronze after the 2014 Asian Games, as third-placed South Korea was stripped of its medal due to a failed drugs test by swimmer Park Tae-Hwan.

He said: "Being able to step on the podium is a definite plus for me. This is my third and most probably final Asian Games and it's nice as everyone put in the effort and we showed what Singapore can really do. We just fought right to the end."

'WE HAVE DEPTH'

While the relay team could lose veteran Yeo after Jakarta, Tan is confident that Team Singapore's young athletes will be able to step up to the plate and work towards qualifying as a relay team for the World Championships and Olympics in 2020.

He added: "We have depth, and this is the first time that two kids swam in the heats in the morning and qualified us for the final.

"I'm really excited for the next two relay races, and I hope we can give a surprise to the big guys."

The 4x200m freestyle relay record was the fourth national mark that the Singapore swimmers set in Jakarta after the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, 15-year-old Gan Ching Hwee's record in the women's 1,500m, and 16-year-old Glen Lim's 800m freestyle record on Monday morning. Glen bettered his previous mark of 8min 15.08sec set at the Singapore National Swimming Championships in June after clocking 8min 11.59sec in the timed finals.

The second day of the Asian Games swimming competition saw a neck-and-neck battle for supremacy in the pool between arch-rivals China and Japan, as the latter clinched four gold medals to level the medal tally with China at seven gold each.

Chinese superstar Sun Yang was unstoppable in his quest to become the winningest swimmer at the Games, as he stormed home in a new Games record time of 7min 48.36sec in the 800m freestyle to claim his second gold in Jakarta, before adding a silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

He will be aiming for more golds in the 400m and 1,500m freestyle this week to add to his five-gold haul from the 2010 and 2014 Asian Games.

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