Young guns ready to make a big splash at Singapore SEA Games

Sixteen-year-old Wong Fu Kang looks good for gold in Singapore after a sterling performance at the Malaysian Open recently.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia can look forward to having a pool party at the Singapore SEA Games in June.

Youngsters like Wong Fu Kang, Alwyn Tan, Welson Sim and Phee Jinq En look more than capable of producing a splashing performance – having won their respective events in the recently-concluded Malaysian Open and qualify on merit for the SEA Games.

The four, who are among 16 swimmers who got the nod for the SEA Games, chalked up personal bests that are even better than the gold-medal timings from the last SEA Games in Myanmar two years ago.

National coach Paul Birmingham is delighted that Malaysia will have better quality swimmers for the Games this time.

“We only had four qualifiers for the last SEA Games. Now, we have about 10 swimmers who have qualified on merit for the SEA Games as well as the World Championships in Kazan, Russia, in June.

“We’ll be able to field a good team for the freestyle relays as well,” said Birmingham, who picked out Fu Kang, Alwyn, Welson and Jinq En as the outstanding performers.

The lanky Fu Kang, who is only 16, set the pool alight on the first day of the Malaysian Open by posting a breathtaking 1:02.56 in the men’s 100m breaststroke to shatter former Olympian and Asian champion Elvin Chia’s 15-year-old national mark of 1:02.59.

Fu Kang, who went on to win the 50m and 200m breaststrokes as well, looks good for gold in Singapore, considering his personal best is better than the Myanmar SEA Games winning time of 1:03.06 set by Radomyos Matjiur of Thailand.      

Welson came agonisingly close to breaking Daniel Bego’s national record of 1:49.22 set in 2009 with a personal best of 1:49.67 in the men’s 200m freestyle.

He was in superb form in the 400m distance, clocking 3:53.93 (Kevin Yeap holds the national record of 3:53.26 while the SEA Games winning time is 3:45.89).

“Fu Kang did great in 100m breaststroke while Welson put up a world-class performance for a kid his size. He has just turned 18 and his 200m freestyle time is just one and a half seconds outside the Olympic A time. If he keeps it up, Welson can qualify for the Rio Olympics next year,” said Birmingham, who also praised Alwyn and Jinq En.

“Alwyn has been knocking on Foo Jian Beng’s national mark of 23.42 in the 50m freestyle for some time and I’m happy he did it heading to the SEA Games.

“Jinq En also showed plenty of promise and we now have another good breaststroke swimmer alongside Christina Loh, who will be defending her 100m and 200m titles in the SEA Games.

“It’s not just the SEA Games but we have recently submitted a blueprint for the 2018 and 2023 Asian Games where we want to win medals. These youngsters are our hopes.”

Alwyn posted 23.17 in the 50m freestyle (the Myanmar Games winning time is 23.12) while Jinq En’s personal best of 1:10.75 is not far off Christina’s gold medal mark of 1:10.55.