Swimming: Quah finishes 25.58sec in 50m back in final event of world c'ships, no semis

Singapore's Quah Zheng Wen clocked 25.58sec in the seventh and final heats at Budapest's Danube Arena, finishing 30th overall in the 50m backstroke heats. SIMONE CASTROVILLARI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
Singapore's Quah Zheng Wen clocked 25.58sec in the seventh and final heats at Budapest's Danube Arena, finishing 30th overall in the 50m backstroke heats. SIMONE CASTROVILLARI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
Singapore's Quah Zheng Wen clocked 25.58sec in the seventh and final heats at Budapest's Danube Arena, finishing 30th overall in the 50m backstroke heats. SIMONE CASTROVILLARI FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

BUDAPEST - In his final event of the swimming World Championships, Singapore's Quah Zheng Wen finished 30th overall in the 50m backstroke heats on Saturday (July 29).

The 20-year-old clocked 25.58sec in the seventh and final heats at Budapest's Danube Arena. It was his fifth event in Hungary.

He did not qualify for the semi-finals for any of them. Aside from the 50m back, he competed in the 100m back (18th), 200m back (24th), 100m butterfly (18th) and 200m fly (18th).

Quah said after his race: "Very disappointed with overall performances.

"I could have done a lot of things differently but I came away a lot wiser, how to feel racing at this level, how to split my races better."

He competed at the 2015 edition in Kazan, Russia but did not progress from the heats in any of his events.

Then, he swam in the 50m back (20th overall), 100m back (21st), 100m freestyle (39th) and 200m butterfly (21st).

When asked whether he should be doing fewer events, Quah replied: "I don't want to give any excuses. None of my events really clashed too aggressively with one another.

"It may be something I can look into. I took quite a few events this meet, it's a possibility I could look at cutting some events and focus on the ones I care about.

"It wasn't a tough schedule for me, when you think about SEA Games 2015 (he swam 12 events including relays). Emotionally it was very tiring here though, dealing with disappointment and having to step back up and race each time."

Team-mate Joseph Schooling will compete in the 100m fly final on Saturday (12.13am Sunday in Singapore). He is the reigning Olympic champion in the event.

As for Quah, he is already planning for his next major event - the Aug 19-30 SEA Games.

He said: "I was planning on chilling a bit after this meet but I feel more motivated now to get back to grind as soon as possible, swim SEA Games well and hopefully do something in the 200m fly there and prove to myself I can do good times."

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