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Triple delight for Joseph Schooling at SEA Games

By Satish Cheney

Joseph Schooling made history in the men's 200m butterfly when he clinched a gold medal and set a new SEA Games record, and became the first athlete at the Games to meet the Olympics "A" qualification mark.

In superb form, the 16-year-old led the pack from start to finish in 1minute, 56.67seconds at the aquatic centre in Palembang to win Singapore's first gold in this event since 1975.

"This means he'll automatically qualify for the Olympics. There will be some formalities and in the end the Singapore National Olympic Council makes the final decision but this result is really great for Joseph," said head coach Ang Peng Siong.

He also told Yahoo! Singapore that Schooling's coach, who had flown down from the U.S. to watch the race, had been working with the former ACS boy in the 200m butterfly and qualifying for the Olympics is a huge priority for both of them.

Amanda Lim also created waves by breaking the SEA Games record in the 50m freestyle with a timing of 25.77 seconds
She was back in the pool moments later with the 4x100m freestyle relay team to garner the swim team's 13th gold medal.

The swim team looks set to surpass its record 14 gold medal haul achieved in 2009 when they take to the pool again on Wednesday.



Meanwhile in Jakarta, Singapore's paddlers won two more gold medals.

Feng Tianwei and Sun Beibei beat Thailand 3-2 to grab gold in the women's doubles finals.

The game boiled down to a nail-biting fifth set which saw the duo winning 11-9.

“I was anxious throughout the first four matches, but by the fifth match I was much calmer and was able to steel myself better. We also played better in the fifth round,” said Sun.

In the men’s doubles final, underdogs Ma Liang and Pang Xue Jie emerged victors over compatriots Gao Ning and Yang Zi, who were visibly tired from competing in the men’s singles event earlier in the day.

“I still am in slight disbelief because I didn’t think we could have won them. I think it might have been our confidence going into the game. During practice we were about 50-50,” said Pang.

Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah, who was also at the GMSB Sports Complex, felt her young paddlers were impressive.

“Our young pair of Ma Liang and Pang Xue Jie made me very proud, especially Xue Jie, because I believe his victory will help us to promote table tennis in Singapore more,” said Lee.

She added that she’s also happy with young Isabelle Li who has progressed to the semi-finals of the singles event and is guaranteed a medal.

“I hope more young players will emerge,” added Lee who was involved in a spat with the SEA Games Chef de Mission before the competition over her team selection.



Over at the Jaya Ancol Bowling Centre, Singapore’s keglers were also off to a good start with Cherie Tan and Jazreel Tan clinching gold and bronze respectively in the the women’s singles tournament.

Cherie Tan narrowly secured the gold medal with three straight strikes in her final three open frames, finishing with 1,286 pinfalls despite a strong challenge from Malaysia's Sin Li Jane, who came in second by a paper-thin two pinfalls.

“I knew I had to strike out but I didn’t know how narrow the margin was,” said the 23-year-old.

Jazreel Tan was disappointed as she missed out on the silver by the slimmest of margins – a pinfall.

“I bowled well, made my shots and I made my spares—just today’s not the day, but at least Cherie won, so that’s good,” she said.

Deputy head coach Remy Ong said he was happy with Jazreel Tan’s performance.

“She started with a very bad game and she fought back to put herself in a position for the gold medal,” he told Yahoo! Singapore.

In shooting, Jasmine Ser, still suffering from food poisoning which hit many Singapore athletes in Palembang, took home the silver medal in the 10m Air Rifle event held at the Jakabaring Shooting Range in Palembang.

As for compatriot Li Yafei, she missed out on bronze after finishing in fourth place.





Singapore's performance at the shooting range has been dismal - with only a gold and silver medal achieved so far.

43-year-old Gai Bin, who was a leading contender for all of his four events, has been off the mark and he will be looking for a good finish on Wednesday's 25m centre-fire pistol event.

Team manager Jeanine Heng told Yahoo! Singapore that she was not sure why some of them had lost focus and performed below par.

"Gai Bin has been finding it hard to to focus and maintain. It's a mental game. He can't seem to get out of the situation. When we return to Singapore, we probably have to discuss about why some of them have been having difficulties," said Heng.

Heng added that even if food poisoning was the cause of the poor performances, none of her players would actually place the blame on it.

Meanwhile, in athletics, the men's 4x100m relay team took home the silver with a timing of 39.91 seconds while Zhang Guirong won bronze in the women’s discus.

After day five, Singapore's medal tally stands at - Gold: 25 Silver: 26 Bronze: 41.

Additional reporting from Jakarta by Jeanette Tan