MEMORABLE: The 17-year-old overcomes pain barrier to rewrite national record
THE loudest cheers at the Wisma Belia Aquatic complex yesterday were reserved for the Federal Territories' Ian James Barr as he powered his way through the pain barrier to win the men's 200m individual medley gold, at the same time slicing more than a second off the current national record.
Ian clocked two minutes 5.82 seconds to better the previous national record of 2:06.98s which he himself had set at last year's Indonesia Sea Games.
In second place was Johor's Tia Fang Der (2:13.68s) while bronze went to Selangor's Teh Wei Pin 2:13.96s.
The 17-year-old said the victory was the most memorable of his career as he had not been training as hard as he usually would due to an injured shoulder.
"I am really happy as I had in no way expected to win, not to mention break the (national) record," said the Methodist Boys School student.
"I injured my shoulder due to overuse at the Southeast Asian Swimming championships (in Singapore) three weeks ago and have only been able to train my lower body since them.
"I feel my shoulder is only at 85 per cent and was really hurting in the race but somehow, I managed to do so well.
"This is definitely the most memorable race of my career so far."
Ian, who on Sunday had broken the meet record on his way to winning the 50m backstroke event, said the Malaysia Games will be his last tournament until he finishes his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations at the end of the year.
"I will be concentrating on my exams after this and won't swim until after the exams.
"I want to do well and hopefully be able to further my studies abroad as I hope to be able to train overseas to improve myself."
Selangor won the most medals in yesterday's proceedings, bagging four of eight gold medals on offer with FT, Johor, Penang and Sarawak all winning one gold medal each.
Results -- Men's 100m freestyle: 1 Lim Ching Hwang (Sel) 51.81s, 2 Chen Voon Lee (Pg) 52.32s, 3 Welson Sim (Sar) 53.69s; 200m backstroke: 1 Tern Jian Han (Joh) 2:09.56s, 2: Teh Wei Pin (Sel) 2:11.11s, 3 Daniel To (Sel) 2:12.50s;
Women's 50m butterfly: 1 Chen Voon Lee (Pg) 25.86s, 2 Chi Chia Khian (Ked) 26.21s, 3 Wong Wai Kit (Sab) 26.25s; 200m individual medley: 1 Ian James Barr (FT) 2:05.82s (NR), 2 Tia'a Faang Der (Joh) 2:13.68s, 3 Teh Wei Pin (Sel) 2:13.96s;
Women's 200m backstroke: 1 Caroline Chan (Sel) 2:28.30s, 2 Ong Min Fen (FT) 2:29.02s, 3 Nita Wong (Sar) 2:30.68s; 100m freestyle: 1 Kok Cher Ling (Sel) 59.39s, 2 Tan Li Ling (Sab) 59.49s, 3 Mak Ai Sin (FT) 1:00.21s;
Women's 50m butterfly: 1 Yap Siew Hui (Sel) 28.41s, 2 Pan Cheng Ru (Sab) 29.94s, 3 Low Xue Ting (Joh) 30.49s; 200m individual medley: 1 Erika Kong (Sar) 2:21.48s, 2 Ong Ming Fen (FT) 2:26.74s, 3 Angela Cheng (Sar) 2:29.10s.
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