Asian Games: Joseph Schooling wins 50m butterfly; silver for Roanne Ho in women's 50m breaststroke

Singapore's Joseph Schooling clocked 23.61 seconds to win the men's 50m butterfly at the Asian Games on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Singapore's Joseph Schooling clocked 23.61 seconds to win the men's 50m butterfly at the Asian Games on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Joseph Schooling with his gold medal from the men’s 50m butterfly final at the 18th Asian Games in Gelora Bung Karno Aquatic Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Roanne Ho with her silver medal from the women’s 50m breaststroke final at the 18th Asian Games in Gelora Bung Karno Aquatic Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Singapore’s quartet of Hoong En Qi, Samantha Yeo, Quah Jing Wen and Quah Ting Wen with their bronze medals from the women’s 4x100m medley relay final at the 18th Asian Games in Gelora Bung Karno Aquatic Centre, Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Singapore's Roanne Ho won a silver medal in the women's 50m breaststroke in a national record of 31.23sec at the Asian Games on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Joseph Schooling topped the men's 50m butterfly heats in 23.84 seconds at the Asian Games, on Aug 23, 2018. He won a silver medal in this event at the 2014 Asiad in Incheon, South Korea, in 23.70. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Schooling already has an individual gold in his bag, when he retained his men's 100m fly title in a Games record of 51.04sec on Wednesday night. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Schooling in action during the 50m butterfly heats on Aug 23, 2018. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

JAKARTA - Swimmer Joseph Schooling won his second gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games when he clocked 23.61 seconds to win the men's 50m butterfly on Thursday (Aug 23) night.

China's Wang Peng was second in 23.65sec and Kazakhstan's Adilbek Mussin was third (23.73sec).

Also, Roanne Ho won a silver medal in the women's 50m breaststroke, in a national record of 31.23sec, behind Japan's Satomi Suzuki (30.83sec). China's Feng Junyang (31.24sec) claimed the bronze.

The 23-year-old Schooling successfully defended his men's 100m fly title on Wednesday, in a Games record of 51.04sec, and was part of the Singapore teams that clinched bronze in both the men's 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays earlier in the meet.

Schooling said: "It feels great and it was a huge relief; the time wasn't too great but the most important thing in a race is to try to get your hand on the wall first.

"It was very, very close and I didn't know who won till the end. I had to look up to the (electronic score) board and I almost couldn't believe it actually."

With his second gold, Schooling - the Olympic 100m fly champion - has bettered his showing at the previous Asiad in Incheon in 2014, where he won the 100m fly, clinched the silver in the 50m fly, and secured a bronze in the 200m fly.

Schooling said: "We have come a long way since Incheon and it's nice to see that Singapore swimming is going in the right direction.

"I am going to go back, change up a couple of things with the weight programme, talk to my coaches when I am more rested and see how I can improve from there."

The 50m fly was Schooling's last individual event in Indonesia, although he is pencilled in for the men's 4x100m medley relay on Friday.

On her medal, the 25-year-old Ho said: "I wasn't even expecting a medal because I was the sixth-fastest qualifier... Three days ago I had stomach flu and it was quite bad, I wasn't even sure if I'll make it back on the block today.

"I was quite thankful that I managed to even be here, and I was telling myself 'I'm already here, might as well give it my best'."

In the final race of the day, the quartet of Quah Ting Wen, Quah Jing Wen, Samantha Yeo and Hoong En Qi claimed the bronze medal in the women's 4x100m medley final.

They clocked a time of 4min 9.65sec and had originally finished fifth behind Japan, China, South Korea and Hong Kong.

But the Republic ended up on the podium after China and South Korea were disqualified.

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