One of the swimmers in action
during the Girls' 4 X 200m
Freestyle Relay (18 and Under) of
the 37th Southeast Asian Age
Group Swimming Championships
yesterday. Picture: BT/Yee Chun
Leong
Two national Open records and one Age Group record were set yesterday during the first day of the 37th Southeast Asian Age Group Swimming Championships.
Held at the Aquatics Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas, Christian Nikles completed the Group 1 (16-18 years) 50-metre freestyle event with a time of 25.12 seconds.
He beat his old national Open record of 25.28s set back in June last year. The old Age Group record also by him was 25.71s set in April.
The other new Open national record was from the Boys' 4 X 200m Freestyle Relay (18 and Under) after they swam with a time of 9:03.44.
This is the first time the Sultanate is competing in the event. Brunei have nine swimmers in the tournament and are the only country with no medals after the first day.
National swim coach Eric Landa felt that the level of competition has improved over the past two years and knows it will be tough to win medals.
"Today (Friday) was a tough day. I've seen some very fast swimming and it is fun to see some speedy young swimmers in the home pool where we usually train. I believe the competition has been very well organised," said Landa.
"Team Brunei was off to a good start. The nine swimmers all did their very best and many personal records are being broken and that is our aim for this competition.
"A top-five placing is possible, but I honestly see that this year's competition from other countries is tough. "We have more work to do. It is a good wake up call for us as we are still in the developing stage and the team is still training as hard as we can to try and catch up."
Meanwhile, Malaysia are leading the seven-team table with their haul of 11 gold, four silver and five bronze medals.
Singapore follow closely behind with 10 gold, eight silver and four bronze medals while Thailand are currently in third with seven gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals.
The other participating countries include Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The opening ceremony of the tournament is set for today at 1.30pm.
