3 days ago
Travel-weary Hoe Yean determined to shrug off jet lag
KUALA LUMPUR: A jet-lagged Khiew Hoe Yean settled for 28th in the men's 400 metre freestyle preliminaries at the Singapore World Aquatics Championships today (July 27).
Hoe Yean, who just arrived from the World University Games (WUG) in Germany via Sepang yesterday, clocked three minutes and 51.11 seconds to place 28th from 43 swimmers in the event and thus missed the top-eight cut for the final.
His timing at the OCBC Aquatics Centre was some way off the new national record of 3:47.38s he clocked en route to winning silver at WUG in Berlin last week. His silver ended Malaysia's 34-year wait for a swimming medal in the competition.
The 22-year-old admitted he was not at his best today but is determined to bounce back in his remaining events in Singapore.
"Coming here (Singapore) from WUG has been tough. I just got here yesterday (July 26) evening and had not been able to swim for the past few days because the pool was closed in Berlin after the meet," said Hoe Yean on social media.
"The timing (today) could have been better but I felt like the effort was there. Even though I got left behind in the last 100m, I still made sure I pushed. I think it was pretty good.
"I still have a few more events to go. Hopefully I will get better as the days progress as I am also a bit jet-lagged.
"I don't want to give myself an excuse. I will try and get rid of that (jet lag) as soon as possible and move on to the next race."
Hoe Yean, who has been Malaysia's most outstanding swimmer in recent seasons, is also expected to race the 100m, 200m and 800m freestyle events in Singapore.
Meanwhile, divers Elvis Clement-Lee Yiat Qing finished 11th from 12 divers in the mixed 10m platform synchronised final in Singapore.
The duo's dives scored 42.00, 42.00, 62.10, 41.28 and 60.48 for a 247.86 total.
As expected, China's Zhu Yonxin-Xie Peiling emerged victorious on 323.04. North Korean duo Choe Wi-hyon and Jo Jin-mi came in a close second (322.98) while Aleksandr Bondar-Anna Konanykhina - competing under the neutral athletes banner - took bronze (311.88).
The men's 1m springboard preliminaries saw Yong Rui Jie (283.90) and Nurqayyum Nazim (274.35) settling for 41st and 44th respectively from 59 starters in the event.
Tomorrow (July 28), Nurqayyum-Rui Jie will compete in the men's 3m springboard synchronised event while Pandelela Rinong-Yiat Qing will take to the pool for the women's 10m platform synchronised event.
Hoe Yean will see action in the men's 200m freestyle event tomorrow.
