A Singaporean schoolgirl set a meet record in the 100m freestyle, leading the city-state’s surge to the top of the medal standings at the Southeast Asian Games yesterday.
Quah Ting Wen, a 16-year-old highschool student, swam the 100m in 56.03 seconds, beating the record of 56.05 seconds set by compatriot Jocelin Yeo in 1999.
The victories have given Singapore nine gold medals by the second day of the 10-day, 11-nation Games — three ahead of the nearest rivals.
“I was quite nervous at the beginning of the race because all the others are good swimmers,” Quah said.
She said she hadn’t expected to set a new Games record. “I was hoping to do my best,” said Quah, who describes herself as “quiet, boring” since “I am usually swimming or studying.”
She is competing in seven other events.
Natthanan Junkrajang of Thailand — a star of the 2007 Games — took silver and Lim Xiang Qi, another Singaporean, took bronze.
Singapore’s Zach Ong won the gold in the men’s 200m backstroke with a timing of 2:03.27. In the women’s 200m backstroke, another Singaporean, Li Tao, won the gold with a timing of 2:17.12.
In other events, Thailand’s 21-year-old marksman Pakarn Karndee won the men’s 25m standard pistol and also helped win the men’s 25m standard pistol team event. Thailand also later won the 10m air rifle team event.
Thailand moved up to six golds, with victories in taekwondo and women’s 48 kilograms weightlifting.
Vietnam won four golds in taekwondo and two in karate Thursday to match that total.
Singapore’s Goh Jiya Yi set the tone for the island nation’s sucessses by winning the women’s 10m air rifle event early Thursday. She was followed by Zhang Jin, who won the men’s 10m air rifle. Singapore also won the event’s team gold.
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