Indonesia shines in schools swimming c'ship

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young swimmers beat out Thailand from atop the medal tally on Tuesday during the second day of the three-day 4th ASEAN Schools Swimming Championship.

Host swimmers racked up nine golds, nine silvers and three bronzes. Thai swimmers, who were ahead in the medal tally on the opening day on Monday, won seven golds, seven silvers and eight bronzes to rank second, followed by Malaysia with four golds, one silver and six bronzes.

Indonesia's Steven Chandra topped the medal standings in the boys' competition with three golds in individual events. He won the 1,500m freestyle in a meet record of 16:32.48 and 200m butterfly in 2:10.24. He won his first gold in the 400m freestyle on Monday.

Steven, 18, the bronze medalist in the men's 1,500m freestyle in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam, said he preferred training at his club, Carlile in Brisbane, Australia, for his long-term career prospects.

"I would like to train in Brisbane, Australia, to improve my skills. Indonesian and Australian coaches are of relatively the same quality, but there is so much more competition in Australia than here," he said.

M. Akbar Nasution was unstoppable in his favorite event, the 200m breaststroke, winning in 2:24.06. He won the 200m individual medley in 2:13.19 on Monday.

Akbar, who also won bronze in the 200m breaststroke in the Games, said he would need to practice harder if he wished to continue his swimming career. He is trained by his father Radja M. Nasution.

"I am well-trained in the breaststroke. There are fewer competitors in this event around the world than in the freestyle event, so I might get the chance to win in every competition. If I cannot achieve more, I might switch to another event like the backstroke or butterfly stroke," he said.

In the girls' event, Thailand's Pornlada Srisawat and Malaysian Siew Yi-ting were atop the medal standings with two golds each.

Pornlada won the 800m freestyle in 9:14.41 following her gold in the 400m freestyle in 4:29.69 on Monday.

Siew, who also competed in the Games, won the 200m breaststroke in 2:42.92, adding another gold to her collection from the 200m individual medley in 2:28.71 on Monday. (ivy)