Silver Lining For Liew

PALEMBANG: It took just one day for swimmer Marellyn Liew to equal her best results from the previous Games with a two-silver medal performance as the swimming competition got under way at the Jakabaring Aquatic Centre yesterday.

But the 22-year-old protege of former top backstroker Alex Lim Keng Liat was not beaming with joy despite turning out to be the only individual medal winner on the opening night of action in the pool.

Marellyn, who hails from Sabah, settled for second best behind Guangzhou Asian Games gold medallist Tao Li of Singapore as she clocked 1:01.92 in the women’s 100m butterfly final – outside her national mark of 1:01.04 set in Laos.

Great swim: Marellyn Liew in action during the women’s 100m butterfly finals at the Jakabaring Aquatic Centre in Palembang.

Tao Li powered her way to gold in a new Games record of 58.84, smashing her own mark of 59.24 set in Laos.

Marellyn, who was the Best Sportswoman after setting two national records at the Terengganu Sukma in 2008, trained for a few months in China prior to the SEA Games.

She also bagged a second silver swimming the butterfly leg of the Malaysian 4x100m medley quartet later.

The quartet made up of Marellyn, Leung Chii Lin, Chan Kah Yan and Khoo Cai Lin were overtaken by Singapore after the half-way stage to settle for silver in 4:15.02.

Singapore, who had the indomitable Tao Li swimming the butterfly leg, surged to gold in 4:11.27.

Marellyn said her goal was not to win a medal but to try to qualify for the London Olympics next year.

“I trained hard in China to try to beat the Olympic qualifying mark (1:00.70),” said Marellyn.

“I would have been happier if I didn’t get a medal but made the cut for the Olympics from here.

“I knew that the gold was Tao Li’s as she is the fastest in Asia in the shorter butterfly races.

“I will give myself one more year to achieve my dream to qualify for the Olympics. If I can’t do it, I will probably quit and become a coach,” said Marellyn who was also the silver medallist behind Tao Li in Laos.

It was a disappointing end for the other Malaysian swimmers in action.

Yap See Tuan came down with cramps due to the lengthy wait for his turn to swim in the men’s 200m breaststroke and only managed fourth place with 2:17.76 as Ketin Nuttapong of Thailand won in a new Games record of 2:12.99.

Youngster Joseph Schooling made a grand debut at SEA Games on a big night for Singapore at the pools as he powered his way to the men’s 50m butterfly in 24.06.

Malaysian Foo Jian Beng finished a disappointing seventh in 25.94.

Khoo Cai Lin ended out of the medals in fourth place in the women’s 200m freestyle in 2:04.54.