Swimmer Yi Hao hopes to cap his return to form with Sukma gold

SHAH ALAM: It took swimmer Ng Yi Hao more than a year to regain his best form after a niggling knee injury. Now he wants to cap his return to form with a Malaysian Games (Sukma) gold medal in Perak.

The 19-year-old dislocated his kneecap early in 2015 and had to undergo rehab.

His performance took a serious dip and he was six seconds off his personal best time in the 200m breaststroke.

“When I had my knee injury, my training couldn’t make any progress and my performance was quite bad. I couldn’t even do the backstroke,” said Yi Hao.

“It got better after treatment but even now it still hurts once in a while,” he said.

It was only in 2016 when he went under Selangor swim coach Marilyn Chua that he started to make progress and slowly rediscover his form.

“Coach Marilyn helped me to get back to my best time and improve my mental strength.

“She taught me not to focus on others during a race but to look within myself.

“My personal best time was stagnant for three years, now it is down by one-and-a-half seconds.”

It showed when Yi Hao splashed to a gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:19.02 at the Malaysian Open swimming championships in May this year.

Now that the injury is behind him, Yi Hao is looking ahead to the Sukma in Perak.

“It feels really good to be back again. The whole thing has made me a stronger swimmer, not just physically but also mentally.

“I’ve done enough work and preparation and if everything goes well on that day, I can perform well. I’m targeting the gold in the 200m breaststroke.”