ZHENG YONG MAKES HISTORY

Malacca swimmer breaks 13-year-old 100m butterfly record

LOW Zheng Yong of Malacca became the star of the day in the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) swimming competition when he broke a 13-year-old meet record at Hang Jebat Aquatic Centre yesterday.

The 14-year-old clocked 58.78 to smash former Sea Games champion Daniel Bego’s record of 59.09 to win the boys’ Under-15 100m butterfly event.

Koh Teck Chen of Kuala Lumpur took the silver medal with 59.74 ahead of bronze medallist Nicholas Gan of Johor, who posted 1:01.85.

Zheng Yong also showed his prowess in the 100m breaststroke by winning the event in 1:10.66. His time was not far off the meet record of 1:08.14 held by Tan Chong Heng of Sarawak since 2012.

Penang’s Toh Ting Wei finished second with 1:11.81, followed by Selangor’s Ong Yi Kao (1:12.01).

“I am delighted to break Bego’s record today. I know many have tried in the past but failed.

“I came close to rewriting the 100m breaststroke record. It is okay, I will try to do it next year. I an young and still have the time to improve my strokes,” said Zheng Yong, who idolises American Olympic champion Michael Phelps, in Malacca yesterday.

A student of SMJK Yok Bin, Zheng Yong collected four titles after two days of the meet. He won the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke on Sunday.

Kuala Lumpur’s Khiew Hoe Yean was the second swimmer to set a new meet record. The 14year-old did so in the boys’ Under-15 200m backstroke by clocking 2:10.91. The previous record of 2:10.97 was set by Ian James Barr in 2010.

Malacca’s Ng Yee Sheng took silver with 2:21.39 ahead of KL’s Chung Ze Xuan (2:22.70).

Selangor led the overall standings with a haul of 17 gold, 13 silver and seven bronze, followed by Malacca (8-2-1), KL (6-9-12) and Penang (5-9-4).