AMANDA LIEW JIA XIN was not able to repeat her success at the Arafura Games during yesterday's Asian Youth Games in Singapore, finishing last in Heat 2 of the girls' 100 metres breaststroke event.
Clocking 1:24.78 in yesterday's swim, her performance at the first edition of the tournament was not up to expectation since she finished with silver in the Girls' 17 & over 100m breaststroke event at May's Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia.
She missed out on gold by less than two seconds in Darwin, winning silver with a time of 1:21.90 while the Northern Territory's Rhiannon Barnard won the event with a time of 1:19.62.
Prior to leaving for Singapore, the contingent was told by the president of the Brunei Darussalam National Olympic Council (BNOC) His Royal Highness Prince Hj Sufri Bolkiah that the country was treating its participation at the Games as a good chance for its athletes to test their achievements, with the hope to gain the experience needed for future events which may be more prestigious.
"The most important thing for them is to try their best to improve on their best times" said His Royal Highness, and on that count Liew will be disappointed she could not perform.
Eleven swimmers divided into two heats contested the event, with Heat 2 seeing South Korea's Jung Haeun (1:09.34), China's Wang Chang (1:12.18), Hong Kong's Fiona Ma Hei Tung (1:15.43) and Thailand's Chavunnooch Salubluek (1:16.37) qualify for today's final at the Singapore Sports School.
They will be competing alongside Kazakhstan's Yuliya Litvina who clocked 1:11.72, Singapore's Roxanne Ho Ru'En (1:12.55), Hong Kong's Yvette Kong Man-Yi (1:15.02) and Indonesia's Kretapradani Limargaretha (1:15.97) who advanced from Heat 1.
Brunei's five-member contingent to the June 29-July 7 event is made up of two athletes, two coaches and the chef de mission, Pg Anak Md Sofian Pg Anak Hj Ibrahim.
The Sultanate's other representative, Nurafiqah Hj Rozaini, narrowly missed out at a spot in the final of the girls' 100m sprint after clocking 13.29 seconds in the heats on Tuesday.
Awarded the 'Best Female Athlete' of the recently-concluded 2009 Youth Sports Festival after she won the 100m, 200m and 400m races and finished second in the 4x400m race, Nurafiqah will not be happy that she could not maintain her winning ways in Singapore especially since she could not better the time she clocked at the Youth Sports Festival in the same event.
The Asian Youth Games which are held once every four years feature athletes between the ages of 14 and 18.
Some 42 Asian countries are participating in 10 sports; athletics, swimming, shooting, table tennis, sailing, basketball, beach volleyball, diving, football and bowling.
The event is being held as a practice ahead of the first Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore in 2010.
Courtesy from Brunei Times
