BIRMINGHAM: Brushing shoulders with an Olympic gold medallist daily has gotten swimmer Khiew Hoe Yean all fired up for the Commonwealth Games.
The 19-year-old, who is widely recognised as the top swimmer in the country, couldn't have asked for a better preparation for the games after spending close to a month training with the Scottish swimmers at the University of Stirling.
And among the Scots is Duncan Scott, who is one of the most successful British Olympians after bagging four medals at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
Scott, 25, had led the British team to the 4x200m freestyle gold and he also claimed silver in the 4x100m freestyle, 200m individual medley and 200m freestyle.
Scott, who bagged six medals at the 2018 Gold Coast Games – one gold, one silver and four bronze – will indeed be Scotland's main hope when the swimming competition gets underway at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre today.
And Hanoi Sea Games gold medallist Hoe Yean also hopes to do Malaysia proud when he competes in the 400m freestyle heats today.
Hoe Yean will feature in four events, the others being the 100m and 200m freestyle as well as the 200m backstroke.
"It was certainly a very good training stint for me as it is much more competitive compared to training back home in Bukit Jalil," said Hoe Yean.
"We travelled to Stirling immediately after the World Championships (in Budapest) last month to prepare for these games.
"Stirling University is also the base for some of the top Scottish athletes who will be competing in Birmingham.
"I managed to learn quite a few things from the Scotland team, in particularly Scott.
"We've become friends and I managed to learn something new from him, such as swim techniques as he is also a middle and long distance swimmer like me," added Hoe Yean who was Malaysia's best swimmer at the Hanoi Sea Games, winning one gold and three silver.
At the World Championships, he smashed Welson Sim's 400m freestyle national record of 3:49.29 with a time of 3:48.72.
Besides Hoe Yean, the other Malaysian swimmer in action today is Bryan Leong, who will compete in the men's 50m butterfly heats.