KUALA LUMPUR: Swimmer Leung Chii Lin experienced a high and a low in her last junior assignment on Saturday.
There was a surprise for Chii Lin when she named the best overall swimmer in the girls’ Under-17 competition of the South-East Asia (SEA) age-group championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.
The winners of the awards for the respective age-groups were announced at the farewell dinner for the participants on Saturday night.
Best Malaysian: Chii Lin posing with the best overall swimmer for girls’ Under-17 trophy in the SEA age-group championships. Chii Lin was picked for bagging four gold medals — in the 50m and 100m freestyle, 50m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. She also won two silver medals — in the 50m breaststroke and 200m freestyle.
However, her joy in becoming the only Malaysian winner was also tempered by the realisation that she has some way to go before reaching the form that took her to the Beijing Olympics last August.
Chii Lin bagged four gold medals in Sukma (Malaysia Games) in Terengganu last year and went on to set a new national record in the Malaysian Open in Bukit Jalil en route to qualifying for her first Olympics.
“It’s kind of hard to describe how I felt about my performances as I did not break any records. I’m not as fast as previously in the normal events I’m usually good at (the short sprint events),” said the 17-year-old from Kota Kinabalu, who set personal best in the 50m breaststroke and 200m individual medley.
“But the surprising thing is I’m actually doing well in the other events. It could be better but I guess I did okay to finish off my last SEA age-group meet. My main goal is still the SEA Games at the end of the year and I hope I will be doing better times by then.”
Chii Lin has yet to qualify on merit for the Laos SEA Games but it should not be much of a problem as she is optimistic of making the grade in the coming months.
Chii Lin is among one of the four Malaysian qualifiers for the World University Games in Belgrade from July 1-12.
She was the silver medallist in the 50m freestyle at the last SEA Games in Korat two years ago behind fellow Malaysian Chui Lai Kwan.
Chii Lin was previously coached by former top national swimmer Lim Keng Liat but switched her training base to Bukit Jalil early this year.
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