HANGZHOU: After 21 years, Malaysia's medal drought in swimming at the Asian Games continues.
One of Malaysia's best prospects in the pool, Khiew Hoe Yean, missed out on a bronze medal by mere seconds when he finished fourth in the men's 400m freestyle event on Friday.
Having qualified for the final with the second-fastest time in the heats, the Phnom Penh Sea Games gold medallist came in fourth with a time of 3:49.47s.
Ahead of him was Vietnam's Nguyen Huy Hoang, who clocked 3:49.16.
South Korea's Kim Woo Min clinched the gold after posting 3:44.36, while China's Pan Zhanle took the silver at 3:48.81.
Hoe Yean, who skipped the men's 4x100m freestyle final on Thursday to focus on his pet event, just ran out of luck as he produced a remarkable fightback in the last 100m.
Starting off at No 6, Hoe Yean quickly found himself trailing in seventh place, but finishing fourth at the biggest sporting event in the continent is already a remarkable feat.
"I did my best to come back hard, but I was just not fast enough," said Hoe Yean, while catching his breath, clearly disappointed.
"I wanted that bronze, but too bad, I couldn't get it," added Hoe Yean, who could have finished with a silver had he smashed his personal best.
At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last year, Hoe Yean set the national record time of 3:48.72s.
The last Malaysian swimmer to win a medal at the Asiad was Lim Keng Liat, who bagged silver in the men's 100m backstroke at the 2002 Busan Games.
Earlier in the day, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal, Bryan Leong, Pang Pui Yee, Jayden Tan and Lim Yin Chuen all missed out on reaching the top eight final of their respective events.