Yi Ting Splashes To Gold At SEA Meet After A One-year Hiatus

PETALING JAYA: Siow Yi Ting took a one-year break from swimming to complete her studies but it has not dampened her zeal for the sport.

The veteran swimmer could be looking at a record fourth Olympic appearance in London after ending as the fastest ranked Malaysian in the women’s 100m breaststroke at the end of qualifying period.

Yi Ting dipped under the Olympic selection time of 1:10.79 for the second time in bagging the gold at the South-East Asia (SEA) Swimming Championships at the Singapore Sports School.

She posted 1:10.66 with her younger team-mate Christina Loh securing a one-two finish for Malaysia in 1:11.38.

Khoo Cai Lin

Thai swimmer Chavunnooch Salubluek took bronze in 1:11.54 to complete a repeat of the podium standings for the breaststroke discipline at the Indonesia SEA Games last November.

Yi Ting clocked 1:10.55 to finish just 0.02s ahead of Christina when she claimed the gold in her comeback attempt after being away from the pool for one year in order to graduate with a BA in Arts and Sculpture from the University of Arkansas.

The Negri Sembilan swimmer only returned home last August to train at Bukit Jalil under national coach Paul Birmingham and she managed to deliver the goods with two golds and one silver.

The SEA meet is the last chance for the swimmers from the region to improve on their timings in order to make the cut for London and Yi Ting will rest well knowing she has put in her share of hard work to keep her Olympic dream alive.

She lost to Christina in the 100m breaststroke at the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil last month.

“No Malaysian female swimmer has competed in four Olympics so far. It will be great to make it my fourth outing and that’s the reason why I’m giving it a shot.

”Of course, I was hoping to go under the A time but I’m just happy to post a time close to it,” said the 27-year-old, who is also down for the 200m breaststroke.

Khoo Cai Lin (pic) earned more cheers, clocking 4:19.06 to win the women’s 400m freestyle for the second Malaysian gold medal.

Indonesian Saumi Raina came in a close second in 4:20.16 while bronze went to Thai Benjaporn Sripanomthorn (4:24.12).

Yap See Tuan swam to a personal best time of 1:03.67 in taking silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke behind Singapore’s Khoo Chien Yin (1:02.79).

See Tuan was just one second off the national record of 1:02.59 held by former Asian champion Elvin Chia since 2000.

Three more bronze medals came from Ian James Barr (men’s 200m individual medley), Marellyn Liew (women’s 50m butterfly) and the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay quartet (Erika Kong, Hii Siew Siew, Marellyn and Cai Lin).