Sai Hung-Farez lead Malaysia charge into semis
whereby a few even broke their respective national records.
“Even though I felt a bit nervous at the beginning, I managed to overcome the early jitters and clock a fast time from what I am used to,” he said.
However his latest exploit is still off his personal best which he set while competing at the Mare Nostrum in Monaco where he upstaged Olympic champion Mack Horton with a time of 3:49.48s in June.
Welson will be in action today as part of the national quartet for the 4x100m and will also feature in the 200m tomorrow.
He has vowed to do his best in the 4x100m and hopes to land a gold medal as well in the 200m event.
Meanwhile, another national swimmer, Yeap Zheng Yang took seventh place in the 400m while Jian Han Tern also finished seventh in the 50m backstroke. ONG Sai Hung and Farez Izwan Mukhtar provided the biggest cheer for Malaysia as the Sea Games squash competition finally got underway yesterday after an unexpected delay.
An accident involving two buses ferrying 28 athletes to the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil saw the first round matches of the men’s and women’s doubles pushed back from the scheduled morning start to the evening.
Eight players received treatment for minor injuries but two players from Myanmar withdrew from the competition due to whiplash injuries.
When the competition began, Sai Hung-Farez overcame Thailand’s Krittapat Pranich-Krittin Jindamang 11-4, 11-2 in the first round before knocking out jointthird seeds Reymark BegorniaRobert Garcia of the Philippines 11-2, 11-6 in the quarter-finals.
“We did our best and won,” said Sai Hung. “We play against Singapore tomorrow so we can’t take it easy. We combine well on court after training together for two months before the Sea Games.
“We have played in two tournaments before this to build on our understanding with each other.”
The Malaysian pair will face second seeds Pang Ka Hoe-Timothy Leong of Singapore for a place in the final where top seeds Ng Eain Yow-Syafiq Kamal could be waiting.
Eain Yow-Syafiq launched their campaign for gold by beating David Pelino-Juan Rafael Yam of the Philippines 11-5, 11-5 and next face Singapore’s Benedict ChanChua Man Tong.
Two Malaysian pairs also remain on course for a meeting in the women’s doubles final after comfortably reaching the lastfour.
Top seeds Rachel Arnold-Andrea Lee brushed aside Thailand’s Anantana Prasertratanakul-Panisa Suwanarat 114, 11-6 while second seeds Chan Yiwen-Nazihah Hanis Razak defeated Indonesia’s Catur YulianaRinduri Maulida Arnasty 11-5, 117.
Mixed doubles pairs Sanjay Singh Chal-S. Sivasangari and Ryan Pasqual-Rachel both had byes to Tuesday’s quarter-finals. Devinder Singh