KUALA LUMPUR – Sarawak swimmer Kelly Teo bagged her first Malaysia Games (Sukma) gold medal at the biennial event in the 800m freestyle held at the National Aquatics Centre today.
Kelly clocked 9m 26.05s ahead of Sabah’s Chu Xin Ying (9m 28.04s) and Penang’s Hooy Jia Yee (9m 32.52s).
Despite her success, Kelly said her real target was to break the national record of 8m 45.36s held by Khoo Cai Lin since the 2009 Laos SEA Games.
“This is my first Sukma. I did my best, but it was not easy because of the tough competition by the other swimmers.
“However, I will keep on doing my best and hope to beat the national record held by Cai Lin one day,” said Kelly, who is a student at Bukit Jalil Sports School.
The 16-year-old added that she was disappointed with her result despite winning the gold because she could not break her personal best of 9m 21s achieved at the Malaysia Open this year.
Other than the 800m freestyle, Kelly also won a silver medal in the women’s 200m freestyle yesterday.
At the same time, she assisted her contingent in securing a silver medal for the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay (4m 1.2s), which was won by Selangor (3m 59.83s).
In other events, Johor’s Tan Rouxin added her fourth gold medal when she won the women’s 50m breaststroke, clocking 32.78s. ahead of Sabah’s Loo Yie Bing (33.21s) and Penang’s Lee Yi Yen (34.28s) who took the silver and bronze respectively.
Meanwhile, Selangor’s Lim Shun Qi bagged a gold medal in the women’s 200m butterfly after beating Johor’s Ong Yong Qi and teammate Yong Jia Jia, who finished second and third – The Vibes, September 21, 2022
