S'pore's 18-year gold drought in men's 50m freestyle ends
By Satish Cheney
Singapore has finally clinched a gold at the SEA Games men's 50m freestyle event after 18 years.
"Majulah Singapura" was the first anthem played at the aquatic centre in Palembang after Arren Quek broke the Republic's gold drought with a timing of 23.28 seconds.
Head coach Ang Peng Siong last won it in 1993 when the games was held in Singapore.
Quek's feat is among the four golds that Singapore's swim team garnered on Monday night.
Ang told Yahoo! Singapore he was happy the long dry spell has come to an end.
“It’s about time! I hope we can carry on winning this event. But I think we also need someone to break the record again. We need to sort that out soon,“ he said, laughing.
Shana Lim added to the tally when she took top spot in the women’s 50m backstroke, clocking 29.37 seconds.
And as expected, Singapore's swimming sensation Tao Li won the 200m butterfly event comfortably, clocking in 2 minutes, 14.27 seconds.
In the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, Danny Yeo swam the anchor leg with a strong finish to ensure his team's victory.
Over at the men's 200m backstroke, Zack Ong made an excellent comeback in the final 50m stretch after initially trailing in fifth place but he failed to defend his title and had to settle for silver. Rainer Ng took home the bronze.
At the GMSB Sports Complex in Jakarta, the first-time pairing Yang Zi and Sun Beibei emerged the surprise victors in the mixed doubles final after beating teammates Gao Ning and Feng Tianwei.
“It wasn’t easy, but we’re both really happy that we managed to win the gold,” said Sun.
Singapore Table Tennis Association president Lee Bee Wah was visibly delighted with her players’ performance from Monday's matches, highlighting the younger men’s doubles pair and 16-year-old Isabelle Li’s clean sweep in her first singles match against the Philippines.
“We expected it to be a tough battle (against the Thais), but look at the way they fight, they really rose above and played very well… I’m very proud of their determination and their performance,” she said.
While young duo Li and 20-year-old Zena Sim fell disappointingly to a strong Indonesian pairing in the women’s doubles events, Li said she needs to steel her focus on playing well in her upcoming singles’ matches on Wednesday.
“As an athlete, you have to learn from your loss and then continue playing on,” she said.
Deputy head coach and former Olympic paddler Jing Jun Hong also commended the girls’ effort and fighting spirit.
“They definitely put in their all,” she told Yahoo! Singapore. “They exhibited a commendable fighting spirit — just that the excessive pressure they put on themselves, coupled with the very loud home audience cheering for their opponents, created a difficult situation for the young players.”
In the men’s table tennis doubles, it will be another all-Singapore final on Tuesday after young paddlers Ma Liang and Pang Xue Jie pulled off a surprise victory over Thailand to book a spot in the final against compatriots Gao Ning and Yang Zi.
“We were expecting to play a tough match against the Vietnamese pair so when the Thai team beat them, it was a bit of a confidence boost for us,” said Pang.
“I’m very excited because this is my first time entering the finals for the doubles, and I’m really happy we have done it,” he added.
In athletics, Singapore shot putter Zhang Gui Rong won gold with a throw of 16.96m while Wan Lay Chi clinched the silver.
The first silver medal in cycling at the Games came from 23-year-old Darren Low in the men's 50km individual time trial event.
Singapore failed to see gold in fencing on Monday but epee fencer Ann Karin Melbye clinched a joint bronze with Thailand after she lost 11-15 to Indonesia in the semi-finals.
President of Fencing Singapore Nicholas Fang told Yahoo! Singapore he’s hoping for a gold medal on Tuesday.
"It's good that we've got our first medal and this will hopefully kick off a medal rush, but we are disappointed because we were targeting a gold from our fencers today. We will have to make the most of the last day of individual competition tomorrow and the team events to come,” said Fang.
Additional reporting by Jeanette Tan in Jakarta
