Swimmers all ready to dive in

The spanking new Sandwell Aquatic Centre opened its doors yesterday morning, as fans filled the £73 million (S$122.8 million), 5,000-seat arena to catch the first day of the Commonwealth Games' swimming action.

Located in Smethwick, an industrial town in the West Midlands, the facility is host to some of the Games' biggest swimming stars for the six-day meet.

While British breaststroke king Adam Peaty was not in yesterday's line-up, local supporters joined other fans to cheer on their favourites, including England's 50m freestyle world champion Ben Proud, Australia's Emma McKeon and Canadian Maggie MacNeil.

No doubt the biggest name on the starting blocks was Aussie two-time Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, but the home crowd also reserved their cheers for swimmers from different nations.

Singapore's swimmers were also happy to get their campaign under way, with Teong Tzen Wei and Mikkel Lee the first in action in the men's 50m butterfly.

Both qualified for the semi-finals - which took place after press time last night - after finishing 11th and seventh overall in the heats.

"It's always good to break the ice - first race is always exciting and a bit nervous because you don't know everything that's going to happen and the pool is new," said Teong, who clocked a personal best of 23.03 seconds in the event last month to make the final at the Fina World Championships.

"I'm quite happy because I made the semis and that was my goal - moving on to the semis and then hoping to make the finals after that."

Other Singaporeans also made it to the semi-finals or finals of five other events, including the mixed 4x100m freestyle and men's 200m breaststroke finals.

The quartet of Amanda Lim, Quah Jing Wen, Darren Chua and Jonathan Tan clocked 3min 33.71sec to finish sixth out of 19 teams in the mixed 4x100m free, while Maximillian Ang was fifth out of 20 in the 200m breast in 2:12.27.

Quah Zheng Wen, who qualified for the semi-finals after clocking 55.67sec in the men's 100m backstroke heats, said: "The first race is always the hard one for every competition, so I'm glad I managed to get that one out of the way... looking forward to the rest.

"This is our third competition in a row, I'm just here racing, doing my best and seeing where training is for me."

After making her international bow at May's SEA Games where she won three golds, a silver and a bronze, Letitia Sim clinched a semi-final berth in the women's 50m breaststroke when she clocked 31.67sec to finish 11th.

The 19-year-old, who also competed at the World Championships, said: "That was really exciting because the first event, everyone got behind the blocks and it got quiet super fast, I got nervous really quickly.

"Commonwealth Games is between SEA Games and World Championships, which is a little bit more comfortable to come back down after the worlds. It feels a bit smaller, more comfortable, not too much stress. I'm really excited for this meet and all my races."

Today's heats will see Singapore's Amanda Lim and Quah Ting Wen racing in the 50m free, with Ang competing in the 100m breaststroke and the men's 4x100 freestyle relay team also in action.

Fans can also look out for Olympic champion McKeon, who will also be competing in the women's 50m free.