Swimming: Quah Ting Wen sets new national women's 50m freestyle record

Quah Ting Wen takes off in her 50m freestyle race at the Singapore National Age Group Championships on Sunday, March 19, 2017. PHOTO: SINGAPORE SWIMMING ASSOCIATION

SINGAPORE - Quah Ting Wen set a new national record in the women's 50m freestyle event at the Singapore National Age Group Championships on Sunday (March 19).

The 24-year-old clocked 25.27sec, eclipsing Amanda Lim's previous mark of 25.38sec set at the Asian Youth Games in 2009. Quah won the event ahead of Lim (25.50) and Thailand's Jenjira Srisa-Ard (25.72).

Last November, Quah underwent surgery on her left arm to remove an implant and only resumed training in January.

But during the six-day meet at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, Quah made the SEA Games 'A' qualifying mark for four events, the women's 100m backstroke, 50m and 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle.

She said: "This wasn't something I was aiming for. I felt that it was more important for me to have a good race, given that I didn't clock a lot of good timings as I had only got back to training in January. So I'm proud of what I've accomplished.

"This meet is a confidence booster for me. This meet was for all of us to qualify for the SEA Games. I'm excited to get back to training to start working hard again."

Besides Quah, 11 other local swimmers met the SEA Games 'A' qualifying mark at the event.

They are Roanne Ho, Darren Lim, Danny Yeo, Gan Ching Hwee, Amanda Lim, Quah Jing Wen, Lionel Khoo, Pang Sheng Jun, Teong Tzen Wei, Francis Fong and Christie May Chue.

At the end of next month, the Singapore Swimming Association will submit the final list of swimmers to the Singapore National Olympic Council for nomination to participate at August's SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

National Training Centre head coach Gary Tan said: "I'm optimistic about our chances of sending a big team to the SEA Games this year. The depth of swimmers is coming through. What made me pleased is the overall performance of the Singapore community."

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