Swimmer Amanda secures Asian Games ticket despite illness
She was ill, but Singapore swimmer Amanda Lim still managed to secure her ticket to August's Asian Games , after meeting the "A" qualifying mark yesterday, the final day of the Liberty Insurance 49th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships (SNAG) for seniors.
The 25-year-old won the women's 50m freestyle final at the OCBC Aquatic Centre in 25.41 seconds, equalling her time at last year's SEA Games and meeting the Asian Games "A" cut-off mark of 25.72s.
"I did the exact same time as SEA Games, so it is a bittersweet feeling because it has been a solid six months of training," Lim, who represents Swimfast Aquatic Club (SAC), said in a press release.
"Of course, I want to go faster but, this week, has just been bad for me, with food poisoning and having a fever just before racing, so based on the circumstances, I did pretty okay.
"In a 50m race, everything has to come together and I cannot make a mistake and to do the exact same time as I did last year, it is pretty impressive."
Yesterday, Chinese Swimming Club's (CSC) Marina Chan and AquaTech Swimming's (ATS) Pang Sheng Jun also qualified for the Aug 18-Sept 2 Indonesian Asiad.
Chan, 21, finished second behind Lim in 25.66s. She said: "It has been four years since I clocked a best time and, last year, I did not make the SEA Games team. So, for me, to meet the Asian Games "A" mark, it is really wonderful."
Pang, who won the men's 200m individual medley in 2min 2.12secs, met the Asian Games' "A" qualifying mark of 2:02.80s.
CSC's Gan Ching Hwee claimed another Asian Games "B" cut in the long-distance races, when she clocked 8:52.63s in the women's 800m freestyle final. The "B" cut-off mark is 8:57.60s.
Last Wednesday, three Singapore swimmers - SAC's Ong Jung Yi (men's 200m butterfly), ATS' Darren Lim and Aquatic Performance Swim Club's Danny Yeo (both men's 100m freestyle) - had also met "A" cut-off marks for the Asiad, which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang.
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