KHIEW Hoe Yean failed in his bid to match his Asian Games debut achievement in Hangzhou three years ago as the Malaysian swimming team ended their campaign on a disappointing note at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
The 24-year-old experienced a shock exit when he touched the wall in 3:56.94s to finish 13th overall and miss out on the final.
His time was 9.56s outside his national record of 3:47.38s and well behind the 3:49.47s he clocked in 2022 Hangzhou edition, where he missed on a bronze by just 0.31s to Vietnam's Nguyen Huy Hoang (3:49.16s).
Malaysian compatriot Mohd Dhuha Zulfikry also fell short after finishing 16th overall in 3:58.06s.
The double SEA Games champion had been targeting to do well in his last major assignment for the year but was not able to bring out his best performance.
It was a disappointing final day for Malaysia as all five swimmers across four events failed to advance.
In the men's 200m butterfly, Jayden Tan Khai Xin finished 17th overall in 2:04.94s while Goh Li Jie ended in 2:00th place with 2:10.19.
In the men's 50m breaststroke, Thailand SEA Games silver medallist Andrew Goh clocked 28.28s to place 19th overall, finishing 0.88s outside his national record of 27.40s.
