Laos, Thursday, December 10, 2009 – Team Singapore bagged an impressive 10 gold medals on day 2 of the 25th South East Asian (SEA) Games in Laos.

Swimming, a much-anticipated gold mine for Team Singapore in the Games, contributed five gold medals. Quah Ting Wen sliced two hundredths of a second off Joscelin Yeo’s 100m freestyle Games record to win in 56.03 seconds, and Zach Ong then followed with a shocking win over Filipino favourite Ryan Arabejo in the men’s 200m backstroke.

Zach clocked a new national record of 2 minutes 3.27 seconds to smash his personal best by nearly five seconds, and erase coach Gary Tan’s 2001 mark of 2:05.07s.

Another national record fell in the next race when Tao Li bettered her four-year old 200m backstroke mark of 2:17.55s with a 2:17.12s gold medal-winning performance.

What was astounding was that Team Singapore had identical gold-bronze finishes in those events, which were the first three of the evening’s swimming programme. Amanda Lim, Rainer Ng and Shana Lim finished third respectively.

After 14-year-old Koh Hui Yu clocked a personal best of 2:20.71s to win a bronze in the women’s 200m individual medley, the Team Singapore 4x200m freestyle relay swimmers finished the evening in style, claiming Games records in both the men’s and women’s races.

The men’s team, consisting of Joshua Lim, Clement Lim, Zach and Marcus Cheah, clocked 7:30.73s, bettering the Games and National record of 7:35.85s, while the latter team stopped the clock in 8:11.75s. Ting Wen, Lynette Lim, Amanda and Mylene Ong’s collective performance was quicker than Thailand’s Games record by more than nine seconds, but did not erase the current national mark of 8:09.91s.

Three more golds were added by the shooting team, where Zhang Jin and Goh Jia Yi won the men’s and women’s individual Air Rifle competition respectively. Zhang picked up a second gold from the Air Rifle team event when he, along with Jonathan Koh and Ong Jun Hong, finished three points ahead of the Thais.

Gai Bin (men’s 25m Standard Pistol) and Jonathan Koh (men’s 10m Air Rifle) clinched silvers, while the men’s 25m Standard Pistol and women’s 10m Air Rifle teams won bronzes.

The men and women paddlers expectedly won their team events to secure two more golds. Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Sun Bei Bei white-washed their opponents in the knock-out rounds to win the womens’ competition, but their male compatriots of Gao Ning, Yang Zi and Cai Xiaoli had to survive a nervy 3-2 win over Vietnam in the semi-finals before triumphing 3-0 over Thailand in the final.

In other events which saw Team Singapore garner more medals, Ng Pei Yi won a silver in the women’s Karate Individual Kata, and Jacqueline Quek lost her only match in the women’s Taekwondo Middleweight category to claim a bronze. Peter Gilchrist and Lim Chun Kiat also finished third in the English Billiard Doubles.

Along with the water polo gold medal clinched three days ago, Team Singapore sits proudly atop the medal tally after day two with 11 golds, 3 silvers and 8 bronzes.

Day 2 results:

Billiards:

English Billiard Doubles:
Quarter-Finals: Singapore (Peter Gilchrist and Lim Chun Kiat) beat Vietnam 3-1
Semi-Finals: Singapore (Peter Gilchrist and Lim Chun Kiat) lost to Myanmar 3-2
3rd/4th placing: Singapore (Peter Gilchrist and Lim Chun Kiat) beat Malaysia 3-0 (Bronze)

9 Ball Pool Doubles:
Quarter-Finals: Singapore (Chan Keng Kwang and Toh Lian Han) beat Laos 7-4
Semi-Finals: Singapore (Chan Keng Kwang and Toh Lian Han) lost to Indonesia 7-4

Cycling:

Mens’ Mountain Bike Downhill Final:
Tan Hong Chun: 2 minutes 54.58 seconds (5th)

Football:

Preliminary Round Group B:
Laos 0 Singapore 0

Karate:

Women’s Individual Kata:
Quarter-Finals: Ng Pei Yi beat Yanisa T. (Tha)
Semi-Finals: Ng Pei Yi beat Lidaphone (Laos)
Final: Ng Pei Yi lost to Nguyen Hoang Ngan (Vie) (Silver)

Shooting:

Men’s 25m Standard Pistol Final:
Gai Bin: 566 points (Silver)
Poh Lip Meng: 557 (5th)
On Shaw Meng: 545 (14th)

Men’s 25m Standard Pistol Team Final:
Gai Bin, Poh Lip Meng, On Shaw Meng: 1668 points (Bronze)

Men’s 10m Air Rifle Final:
Zhang Jin: 690.60 points (Gold)
Jonathan Koh: 690.50 (Silver)
Ong Jun Hong: 575 (13th)

Men’s 10m Air Rifle Team Final:
Zhang Jin, Jonathan Koh, Ong Jun Hong: 1755 points (Gold)

Women’s 10m Air Rifle Final:
Goh Jia Yi: 496.20 points (Gold, after shoot-off)
Haw Siew Peng: 491.30 (4th)
Aqilah Sudhir: 386 (10th)

Women’s 10m Air Rifle Team Final:
Goh Jia Yi, Haw Siew Peng, Aqilah Sudhir: 1167 points (Bronze)

Swimming:

Men’s 200m Backstroke Final:
Zach Ong: 2:03.27s (Gold, National Record) (heat time 2:10.28s, 2nd)
Rainer Ng: 2:06.10s (Bronze) (heat time 2:12.27s, 4th)

Men’s 400m Individual Medley Final:
Pang Sheng Jun: 4:32.44s (4th)
Nicholas Ho: 4:44.97s (8th)

Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay Final:
Joshua Lim, Clement Lim, Zach Ong, Marcus Cheah: 7:30.73s (Gold, Games and National Record)

Women’s 100m Freestyle Final:
Quah Ting Wen: 56.03s (Gold, Games Record) (heat time 56.95s, 1st)
Amanda Lim: 56.60s (Bronze) (heat time 57.96s, 4th)

Women’s 200m Individual Medley Final:
Koh Hui Yu: 2:20.71s (Bronze) (heat time 2:27.55s, 5th)
Koh Ting Ting: 2:25.71s (5th) (heat time 2:26.42s, 2nd)

Women’s 200m Backstroke Final:
Tao Li: 2:17.12s (Gold, National Record) (heat time 2:26.12s, 4th)
Shana Lim: 2:20.98s (Bronze) (heat time 2:21.97s, 2nd)

Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay Final:
Quah Ting Wen, Lynette Lim, Amanda Lim, Mylene Ong: 8:11.75s (Gold, Games Record)

Taekwondo:

Women’s Middleweight Semi-Finals:
Jacqueline Quek lost to Ha Thi Nguyen (Vie) 11-1 (Bronze)

Table Tennis:

Men’s Team Semi-Finals:
Singapore 3 (Gao Ning, Yang Zi, Cai Xiaoli) Vietnam 2
Men’s Team Final:
Singapore 3 (Gao Ning, Yang Zi, Cai Xiaoli) Thailand 0 (Gold)

Women’s Team Semi-Finals:
Singapore 3 (Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei, Sun Bei Bei) Malaysia 0
Women’s Team Final:
Singapore 3 (Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei, Sun Bei Bei) Thailand 0 (Gold)