Yap Siew Hui missed out on the World Championships at Barcelona last month.
PETALING JAYA: Swimmer Yap Siew Hui had to forgo a chance to make her World Championships debut in Barcelona last month. But she hopes to channel all her frustrations into putting up a good show in the Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China.
The swimming competition gets under way tomorrow and Siew Hui is among the 12-member strong Malaysian team sent for the second edition of the Games.
The 15-year-old will compete in the women’s butterfly races (50m, 100m and 200m).
“I didn’t get to go for the world meet although I qualified for the 50m butterfly,” said Siew Hui, who was the top female swimmer at the MSSM (national schools) swimming championships at the Shah Alam Aquatic Centre in March, when she completed a double for Selangor by winning both the 50m and 100m butterfly races in new record times.
“I was told to focus on the AYG instead as I would have a longer time to prepare. I hope to do well with personal bests and make a final if possible.”
She clocked 1:03.06 to break the previous mark of 1:04.01 held by former national swimmer Hii Siew Siew in the girls’ 13-15 age-group 100m butterfly since 2009.
The Kuantan Sukma gold medallist clocked 28.40 to erase the previous mark of 29.48 set by Heidi Loo in 2009 in the 50m butterfly.
A good performance will certainly enhance Siew Hui’s chances of swimming at the Myanmar SEA Games in December.
With SEA Games silver medallist Marellyn Liew having left the Bukit Jalil set-up, there is a pressing need to find a good woman butterfly swimmer.
Hopefully, Siew Hui is the one.
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