Swimming: Daniel sets new record to earn SEA Games spot

By LIM TEIK HUAT

SEREMBAN: It was left to swimmer Daniel Bego to save the day by smashing his own meet record to earn early qualification for the Laos SEA Games in the Malaysian Open championships at the Paroi Aquatic Centre here yesterday.

The 19-year-old led all the way to finish the 200m freestyle race in 1:52.34, erasing the previous meet record of 1:54.17 set three years ago.

Perak’s Kevin Lim took silver in 1:54.71 while Hong Kong’s Kong Kei Koi finished with the bronze in 1:57.53.

It was the third individual win for Daniel in the Malaysian Open and he took his gold medal tally to four shortly after that by swimming the anchor leg for Sarawak in the 4x200m freestyle.

Daniel showed he still had plenty of gas in his tank when he elevated Sarawak to the top of the podium to finish in 8:00.45, just 0.04 seconds outside the previous meet record set in 2006. The other Sarawak swimmers were Eric Chang, Ling Neng Ching and Hii Wey Yau.

But more importantly, Daniel has confirmed his ticket to the Laos Games in December by beating the silver medal qualifying mark of 1:52.98.

Daniel, who is currently doing A-Levels at Inti College, felt he did okay even though the effort was outside his national record mark of 1:50.92 set in the Beijing Olympics last year.

“It was the first time this year that I swam the 200m freestyle and I’m pleased with the effort. It is six month to the SEA Games and I am shaping up well,” said Daniel, who won gold medal in the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly at the last Games in Korat in 2007.

Another Laos SEA Games-bound swimmer, Khoo Cai Lin of Selangor, also showed progress by posting an impressive 2:04.12 to win the women’s 200m freestyle.

Thirteen-year-old Christina Loh of Kuala Lumpur continued with her hot form by bagging a second gold medal, winning the 50m breaststroke final in 34.28. And victory was made sweeter as she defeated Beijing Olympian Leung Chii Lin, who settled for silver in 34.40.

Another KL swimmer, Melvin Chua, just missed claiming an automatic berth in the SEA Games squad when he won the 200m individual medley in 2:09.58. The qualifying mark was 2:09.12.

Indonesia’s Indra Gunawan set the other meet record yesterday, winning the 50m breaststroke in 28.40.

The 21-year-old from Medan, who has been based in Seremban for the past two years and will represent his country in the World Championships in Rome in two months’ time, set the previous record of 29.16 last year.