Sukma champs Dhuha and Xin Lin settle for silver in favourite events

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Games (Sukma) swimming champions Mohd Dhuha Zulfikry and Chong Xin Lin had to settle for being second best in their pet events in the South-East Asia (SEA) Championships in Singapore yesterday.

Dhuha, who splashed to six golds for Federal Territories in the Sarawak Sukma last year, had to concede defeat to Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Quoc Tran Van for the second time in as many days.

The Vietnamese swimmer put up an impressive show to win the boys’ 16-18 200m freestyle event in 1:51.92s ahead of Dhuha, who came in at 1:52.47s.

The 17-year-old Dhuha had also taken silver behind the Vietnamese boy in the 400m freestyle event on Wednesday.

Xin Lin, the nation’s top female backstroker, settled for silver with 2:23.69s in the girls’ 16-18 200m backstroke event behind Thailand’s Mia Millar (2:17.71s).

Three more silver medals came from Joshua Lim in the boys’ 14-15 50m butterfly (25.70s), Megan Ho in the girls’ 14-15 50m butterfly (27.98s) and Sheamus Chew in the boys’ 13 and below 50m butterfly.

The Malaysian team also bagged six bronze medals through Christopher Manuel Nishan in the boys’ 14-15 50m butterfly (25.94s), Mohd Iriel Lim in the boys’ 13 and below 50m butterfly (27.21s), Shannon Tan in the girls’ 14-15 200m freestyle (2:09.34s) and Aw Yuet Ting in the girls’ 14-15 100m breaststroke (1:15.16s).

The mixed 18 and under 4x100m medley team comprising Vivian Tee, Emmanuel Loh, Megan and Loo Cheng Feng also took bronze with a time of 4:06.34s.

Dhuha, Christopher, Cheng Feng and Damian Seth Lim returned to the pool to bag the final bronze for Malaysia on the second day of competition in the boys’ 18 and under 4x100m freestyle event, posting a time of 3:35.51s.