Singapore's Yeo spashes records with two golds<\/p>\n
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Agencies): Thailand, emerging as a
\nregional swimming power, shattered three Southeast Asian (SEA)
\nGames records Sunday as it captured four of the opening night's
\ngold medals.<\/p>\n
But it was Singapore swimming star Joscelin Yeo who stole the
\nshow by grabbing two golds in record time, setting the pace for
\nher quest for nine golds in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games
\nhere.<\/p>\n
Yeo, 20, shattered her own records in the 100-meter freestyle
\nand 200m individual medley events, in which she led all the way.<\/p>\n
\"I am very pleased with my performance, it's a good
\nbeginning,\" said the University of California biology student who
\nhas just recovered from an elbow injury sustained during weight-
\ntraining.<\/p>\n
Yeo clocked 56.0 seconds in the 100m freestyle, breaking her
\n57.27 seconds in the 1993 games. She finished nearly two seconds
\nahead of silver medalist Pilin Tachakittiran of Thailand.<\/p>\n
Slightly more than an hour later, Yeo finished the 200m
\nindividual medley in two minutes 17.17 seconds, shattering her
\nearlier mark of 2:17.48.<\/p>\n
Yeo has grabbed 19 gold medals while anchoring her country's
\nchallenge in the Southeast Asian Games for the past eight years.<\/p>\n
At this year's games, she has also entered in the 50m, 200m
\nand 400m free events, 100m and 200m breaststroke, 100m butterfly
\nand 400m individual medley events.<\/p>\n
She will also participate in two other relay events - 4x100
\nfree and 4x100m medley.<\/p>\n
\"She has passed the first stage of the competition and I hope
\nshe maintains her strength,\" said her U.S. coach Michael Walker.<\/p>\n
But Yeo's strength was not enough to steer her nation to
\nvictory in the 4X200m relay free style. They were edged out by
\nThailand, which won in a record breaking time of 8:25.51 for the
\ngold.<\/p>\n
\"Joscelin should have gone faster,\" Singapore swimming coach
\nDavid Lim said.<\/p>\n
Lim, who expressed disappointment at Singapore's performance,
\nadded that \"we're still very young.\"<\/p>\n
In the men's relay, Singapore's team was disqualified after
\nits anchor swimmer took off too early.<\/p>\n
Thailand won in 7:38.89, about two seconds faster than
\nMalaysia and ahead of its games record of 7:39.39.<\/p>\n
Thailand's Ratapong Sirisanont, two-time gold medalist in the
\nlast SEA Games, maintained his supremacy in the 400m individual
\nmedley event by winning it in a record time of 4min 25.16secs. He
\nbeat Indonesia's hopeful Albert Sutanto by three hundredths of a
\nsecond.<\/p>\n
Albert said afterwards he was not disappointed with his
\nperformance, which bested his own national record of 4:32.37.<\/p>\n
Chonlathorn Vorathamrong won the women's 200m backstroke to
\ngive Thailand another gold in 2:20.05, 1.52 seconds ahead of the
\nPhilippines' Lizza Danila.<\/p>\n
In the men's 200m backstroke event, Malaysia's Lim Keng Liat
\nstaved off a flu and won the gold in 2:2.09.<\/p>\n
\"I was really feeling sick and I didn't want to take any
\nmedicine because I may be pulled up for doping,\" said the record-
\nshattering Asian Games gold medalist in the 100m backstroke
\nevent.<\/p>\n
Apart from Albert's silver, Indonesia managed four bronzes
\nthrough Elsa Manora Nasution in the women's 200m breaststroke,
\nwomen's 4x200m freestyle relay and men's 4x200m freestyle relay
\nteams. Earlier in the day, Indah Eka Purnama won a bronze from
\nthe pool after finishing third in the 3m springboard of diving
\nevent.<\/p>\n
But Indonesia could hope for golds on Monday through freestyle
\nspecialist Richard Sam Bera and his 4x100m freestyle relay team.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/singapores-yeo-spashes-records-with-two-golds-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}