SEA Games: men’s quartet splash their way to silver medal

PHNOM PENH – The national men’s quartet splashed their way to a new national record in the 4x100m freestyle but their time was only good for a silver medal at the Morodok Techo National Aquatic Centre here last night.

In an action packed final that thrilled the fans, the national quartet comprising the men’s 200m freestyle gold medallist Khiew Hoe Yean, Lim Yin Chuen, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal and Terence Ng finished second with a time of three minutes and 20.61 seconds.

Despite falling short of the gold medal, the quartet can at least hold their heads high after shattering the national record of 3:21.06s set by Keith Lim, Welson Sim, Chan Jie and Foong Wei Tze at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

The gold medal went to the Singapore quartet with a winning time of 3:17.35s while the Vietnamese quartet took bronze with a time of 3:21.09s.

“It was a very good race, a redemption from last year, it feels good to get back on the podium,” Arvin Shaun said after the prize-giving ceremony last night.

Meanwhile, Hoe Yean said: “It was pretty hard for me because I had back-to-back events today but I did my best and yes I’m very happy with the silver.”

Hoe Yean also added to his medal collection on the final day of the swimming competition when he took bronze in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:01.74s, finishing behind gold winning Tonnam Kanteemool of Thailand (2:01.29s) and Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Tran Hung second (2: 01.34s).

With the swimming competition drawing down its curtains in the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, the national swimming squad collected a total of one gold, two silver and four bronze, in addition to setting three new national records each in the men’s 4x100m freestyle, men’s 400m individual medley and men’s 4x100 medley.

The swimming medal tally was slightly down compared to the 2021 edition in Hanoi, Vietnam last year when Malaysia won one gold, four silver and two bronze. – Bernama, May 11, 2023