By Erwin Wong/Red Sports

asian games

Quah Ting Wen clocked 2:01.10 in the lead off swim of the 4x200m Freestyle relay final. (Photo courtesy of SSC)

China, Tuesday, November 16, 2010 — Quah Ting Wen was the sole Singaporean swimmer to set a season’s best on the fourth day of the swimming competition at the 16th Asian Games.

The 200 metres Freestyle national record holder was the lead-off swimmer in the women’s 4x200m Freestyle relay final. Her national mark of 1 minute 59.21 seconds was set before non-textile swimsuits were banned at the start of this year, and her best since then has been a 2:02.88 she clocked at the National Age Group meet in March this year.

Ting Wen lowered that by more than one and a half seconds when she clocked a split of 2:01.10, allowing Team Singapore to just trail in fourth place behind the team from Hong Kong at the first changeover. Singapore eventually finished fifth in a time of 8:16.47, after a couple of 2:04.5 splits from Lynette Lim and Mylene Ong, and a 2:06 anchor leg from Amanda Lim.

This performance is the third best in Singapore’s history, and this very same quartet have the top four 4x200m Freestyle relay times in the record books.

Other Team Singapore swimmers came close to season’s bests too. Danny Yeo qualified for the men’s 400m Freestyle final after finishing eighth overall in the morning heats. His personal and season’s best is 4:00.14, and he clocked 4:00.62 and 4:00.67 in the heats and final respectively, where he finished eighth again.

Clement Lim, who clocked 4:03.96 in the heats, was 0.3 seconds off his personal best.

Like Danny, Amanda also qualified for a final in eighth place, which was how she finished. Her time of 26.15 seconds in the 50m Freestyle final was just 0.1 seconds off her season’s best clocked at August’s Youth Olympic Games.

Rainer Ng and Zach Ong, who clocked 57.50 and 57.57 in the 100m Backstroke heats, were less than 0.1 seconds off their season’s bests of 57.44 and 57.49. Nicholas Tan also came within 0.09 seconds from his 50m Butterfly season’s best of 25.55s.

The 21 year old, along with Danny, Clement and Joshua Lim, qualified for the men’s 4x100m Freestyle relay final, after clocking 3:27.92 in the heats. They improved that time by 0.43 seconds in the final, where the standout performer was third-leg swimmer Clement. His 50.83s-split was yet another sub-51 second leg for the 17-year-old, and he now has five splits of 50.83 seconds or quicker, this year alone.

Samantha Yeo clocked her second fastest time ever in the women’s 100m Breaststroke, but her heat time of 1:13.03 was not fast enough to break her own national under-14 record of 1:12.77. Samantha remains the only swimmer in the Team Singapore contingent to break a national or age-group record at this Asian Games, and will have one more opportunity tomorrow.

She will swim in the 200m Breaststroke heats, and will be joined by Clement, Danny (100m Freestyle), Joshua, Pang Sheng Jun (200m Individual Medley), Ting Wen, Mylene (100m Freestyle), Lynette (800m Freestyle) and Shana Lim (100m Backstroke) who will take to the pool on the fifth day of swimming action.

The swimming competition ends on Thursday.

Results

Men’s 400m Freestyle
Heats:
Danny Yeo: 4:00.62 (8th)
Clement Lim: 4:03.96 (12th)

Final:
Danny Yeo: 4:00.67 (7th)

Men’s 100m Backstroke Heats:
Rainer Ng: 57.50 (10th)
Zach Ong: 57.57 (11th)

Men’s 50m Butterfly Heats:
Nicholas Tan: 25.64 (15th)
Pang Sheng Jun: 26.46 (23rd)

Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Heats:
Joshua Lim (52.66), Nicholas Tan (52.99), Danny Yeo (51.00), Clement Lim (51.27): 3:27.92 (8th)

Final:
Nicholas Tan (53.09), Joshua Lim (52.43), Clement Lim (50.83), Danny Yeo (51.14): 3:27.49 (8th)

Women’s 50m Freestyle
Heats:
Amanda Lim: 26.36 (8th)
Mylene Ong: 26.40 (9th)

Final:
Amanda Lim: 26.15 (8th)

Women’s 100m Breaststroke Heats:
Samantha Yeo: 1:13.03 (11th)

Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Final:
Quah Ting Wen (2:01.10, season’s best), Lynette Lim (2:04.53), Mylene Ong (2:04.56), Amanda Lim (2:06.28): 8:16.47 (5th)