Kevin Steals Show With Surprise 400m gold

PALEMBANG: No one gave him a ghost of a chance but Kevin Yeap pulled off a sensational swim to capture his first SEA Games gold medal on a big night for Malaysia in swimming at the Jakabaring Aquatic Centre yesterday.

After lying low with four silver medals over the last three days, the Malaysian swimmers roared to life with three gold medals.

Khoo Cai Lin started the ball rolling by regaining the women’s 800m freestyle title she last won in Korat in 2007 before Kevin sprang his big upset in the men’s 400m freestyle.

Siow Yi Ting marked her comeback to competition after a two-year lay-off as she pipped Christina Loh at the straight to successfully retain her women’s 100m breaststroke title for the third gold of the evening.

But the hero of the day turned out to be Kevin, who kept the 400m freestyle title in Malaysian hands.

Daniel Bego won the event in Laos but he is not here after pulling out at the last minute due to shoulder injuries.

Kevin was not expected to be in the running for middle distance title although a medal was within his reach.

After all, he finished fifth in the race in Laos two years ago, while the Thais and Singaporeans boasted faster times.

But he showed tremendous grit to overtake favourite Sarit Tiewong of Thailand in the last 20m to claim gold in a career best time of 3:55.07.

Tiewong took silver with 3:55.95 ahead of Singapore’s Kevin Matthews, who posted 3:58.48.

Kevin said he learnt his lessons well from previous outings in Korat and Laos.

“I went too fast in the first few laps in my last two SEA Games and I didn’t want to repeat it,” said Kevin.

“I paced myself well and, thank God, I finally got the gold medal. I’m grateful that I stayed patient this time. I’m looking to do well in the 1,500m freestyle tomorrow as I got a silver in Laos two years ago.”

Kevin will be flying off to Jakarta for the men’s 10km open water race after the swimming competition ends tomorrow.

Cai Lin will end her campaign in Palembang a satisfied swimmer as well after leading from start to finish in the women’s 800m freestyle.

The 21-year-old made a quick rebound after losing her 400m freestyle title to win the longest race in the women’s programme in 8:50.17.

Thailand’s Natthanan Junkrajang, who beat Cai Lin in the 400m freestyle the previous night, took silver with 8:55.51.

Yi Ting overcame her much younger compatriot Christina in the last 10m to hand Malaysia the final gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke with 1:10.55.

The consolation is Christina joined Yi Ting in going under the Olympic qualifying mark of 1:10.79 with her silver medal effort of 1:10.57 yesterday.

Sixteen-year-old Joseph Schooling of Singapore grabbed his second gold medal in his SEA Games debut here by winning the men’s 200m butterfly in 1:56.67.

Joseph, who won the 50m butterfly on the first day of competition, also shattered the previous Games record of 2:00.61 set by Daniel Bego in Laos.

Top Malaysian swimmer Lim Keng Liat’s 10-year-old Games record in the 100m backstroke of 56.16 was also erased after Gede Sudartawa raised big cheers from the packed crowd with his winning time of 55.59.