MALACCA: The Malaysian Games in Perak next year will be where Low Zheng Yong hopes to announce his arrival on the senior stage after dominating the under-15 boys category at the Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Swimming Championships in Malacca.
While sweeping seven gold medals to emerge the top swimmer of the meet, the 14-year old Zheng Yong even had time to test himself against the senior swimmers in the under-18 category 400m individual medley, winning the silver behind top under-18 swimmer Sebastian Soon of Selangor.
Having opened his medal haul by smashing Daniel Bego's 13-year-old under-15 100m butterfly meet record on Monday, Zheng Yong yesterday came within a whisker of Tan Gin Yu's five-year old 200m butterfly record (2:09.68s) when he clocked 2:09.95s to bag his final gold medal of the meet.
"With seven gold medals I am satisfied, but I will not be rushing to the next level. My focus will be to target a medal in the Malaysia Games next year," said Zheng Yong, of the SMJK Yok Bin.
"I made my Malaysia Games debut in Sarawak last year, where I qualified for the 200m butterfly final, but did not register a medal. My target will be to take home a medal next year, but I will take it slowly.
"In this meet, I tested myself in the under-18 category 400m individual medley, as I knew I had the times to do well against the more senior field," he said.
Selangor emerged the overall champion of the meet with a whopping haul of 39 gold, 25 silver and 25 bronze medals, thanks in no small part to feats like Nadia Adrianna Redza’s, who bagged six gold medals in the under-18 girls section.
Nadia, 17, completed her haul by bagging the 400m freestyle ahead of teammate Rosalind Pang, in a time of 4:30.86s, just two seconds off the meet record set by Lai Wei Li in 2009.
She also combined with Rosalind, Fatin Amira Ahmad Hadri and Liew Chern Xin to bag the 4x100m freestyle gold, the Selangor quartet completing their domination of the relays after also bagging the 4x100m medley.
En route to her distance events individual gold medals, Nadia was hardly pushed by the competition, winning the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley and 200m breaststroke by comfortable margins, the 400m freestyle yesterday seeing Rosalind arrive nine seconds adrift.
While satisfied with her performances, Nadia, for whom this will be the last National Schools meet, said she wasn't too worried about the lack of depth in the development of the sport, particularly in her events.
"The younger ones are coming up quick, in the under-15s you can see the likes of Angelina Chan, Nessa Yip, Lim Shun Qi and Elise Wong, while Rosalind too will be catching up quickly," said Nadia, who is hoping to make the cut for the 200m individual medley slot in the Sea Games.
Diving closed accounts with Sarawak's Elisha Rania Abrial Rajagopal making a big splash, dominating both the 1m and 3m springboard with virtually runaway gold medals with far superior scores against the competition.
She scored a total of 168.40 in the 1m springboard, with the closest rival Celeste Lee of Kuala Lumpur second with 147.90 points, while in the 3m springboard, Elisha scored 194.4 points to Celeste's 166.35.
RESULTS
Boys - Under-12 - 4x50m freestyle: 1 Sabah (Loo Yie Cheng, Leo Magus Engelbert, Jay Lo, Samuel Ng) 1:58.94s; 2 Selangor (Arniesh Chai, Goh Li Hen, Teoh Kar Chuan, Whisky Chew) 2:00.90s; 3 Penang (Kuang Kai Wen, Loh Ming Her, Thong Kang Ning, Tong Yu Jing) 2:02.99s.
Under-15 - 200m butterfly: 1 Low Zheng Yong (Mal) 2:09.95s; 2 Koh Teck Chen (Kul)
2:12.31s, 3 Nicholas Gan (Joh) 2:18.06s.
4x100m freestyle: 1 Kuala Lumpur (Lim Hong Shern, Koh Teck Chen, Lee Jia Jing, Khiew Hoe Yean) 3:49.57s; 2 Sarawak (Muhammad Naqeb Rosli, Adrian Chua, Chin Xue Kang, Hii Puong Wei) 3:52.41s; 3 Johor (Pang Qi Zhen, Wong Fu Liang, Kek Wei Xian, Nicholas Gan) 3:52.62s.
Under-18 - 400m freestyle: 1 Tan Tsien Ee (Sel) 4:13.88s; 2 Khiew Hoe Yean (Kul) 4:15.02s; 3 Terence Ng (Sel) 4:15.03s.
200m butterfly: 1 Low Ken Ji (Kul) 2:11.52s; 2 Sebastian Soon (Sel) 2:11.64s; 3 Tan Tsien Ee (Sel) 2:11.86s.
4x100m freestyle: 1 Selangor (Tan Tsien Ee, Lim Zi Win, Brandon Goh, Terence Ng) 3:39.37s; 2 Kuala Lumpur (Chew Chee Ming, Ng Kai Wen, Low Ken Ji, Iqmal Mukhlis) 3:39.38s; 3 Sarawak (Zachary Adam Tan, Kilian Ung, Hii Puong Hou, Patrick Lau) 3:43.94s.
Girls - Under-12 - 4x50m freestyle: 1 Penang (Hooy Jia Yee, Regina Cheong, Jesslyn Lim, Song Joe Han) 2:04.15s; 2 Kuala Lumpur (Law Li Wei, Teo Sze Hui, Dian Isandra, Anna Lau) 2:07.37s; 3 Selangor (Mabel Ho, Wong Yu Xuan, Lim Yu Jie, Teh Tzi Lin) 2:08.22s.
Under-15 - 200m butterfly: 1 Ong Yong Qi (Joh) 2:25.21s; 2 Angelina Chan (Sel) 2:26.10s; 3 Lim Shun Qi (Sel) 2:36.03s
4x100m freestyle: 1 Selangor (Elise Wong, Angelina Chan, Nessa Yip, Lim Shun Qi) 4:11.30s; 2 Kuala Lumpur (Christy Teh, Chelsea Lee, Erin Eu Lakshmanan, Geogene Wee) 4:17.89s; 3 Johor (Leong Jia Yee, Thian Xiao Yun, Armelle Soon, Ong Yong Qi) 4:20.74s.
Under-18 - 400m freestyle: 1 Nadia Adrianna Redza (Sel) 4:30.86s; 2 Rosalind Pang (Sel) 4:39.67s; 3 Goh Chia Tong (Mal) 4:44.52s
200m butterfly: 1 Rosalind Pang (Sel) 2:30.71s; 2 Lo Meng Sum (Sab) 2:35.15s; 3 Cindy Tai (Kul) 2:35.63s
4x100m freestyle: 1 Selangor (Nadia Adrianna Redza, Fatin Amira Ahmad Hadri, Rosalind Pang, Liew Chern Xin) 4:08.79s; 2 Kuala Lumpur (Nurlatiffa Zahra, Cindy Tai, Karla Lim, Alia Salleh) 4:15.23s; 3 Penang (Ong Zhi Chin, Kang Hui Lynn, Ashley Too, Elynn Tan) 4:19.35s.