Mar 18
South East Asia’s reigning sprint queen, Amanda Lim, will be going to the Asian Games 2018 this August after meeting the ‘A’ cut qualifying mark on the final day of the Liberty Insurance 49th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships (SNAG) for seniors on Sunday.
Despite being unwell before the start of the race, the Swimfast Aquatic Club (SAC) swimmer still managed to blitz her way through the field in the Women’s 50m freestyle final, with a time of 25.41s, equaling the time she set at last year’s SEA Games, and meeting the Asian Games ‘A’ Cut time of 25.72s.
“I did the exact same time as SEA Games, so it is a bittersweet feeling because it has been a solid 6 months of training since September last year. Of course, I want to go faster, but this week has just been bad for me, with food poisoning and having a fever just racing, so based on the circumstances I think I did pretty okay and I am pleased with myself actually, just doing what I got to do. In a 50-meter 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”, said the 25-year-old.
Also qualifying for the Asian Games in the 50m freestyle was Marina Chan from Chinese Swimming Club (CSC), as she clocked a time of 25.66s to finish in second place behind Amanda. The 21-year-old could not contain her joy after the race.
“I am really happy. 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.”
Joining them in qualification was AquaTech Swimming’s (ATS) Pang Sheng Jun, who finished first in the Men’s 200m individual medley in a time of 2:02.12s, under the Asian Games ‘A’ cut qualifying mark of 2:02.80s.
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Gan Ching Hwee of Chinese Swimming Club (CSC) claimed another Asian Games “B” cut in the long-distance races, when she finished in a time of 8:52.63s in the Women’s 800m freestyle final. The ‘B’ cut mark stands at 8:57.60s.
The five-day meet for seniors concluded with the crowning of the Most Valuable Swimmer for the Boys and Girls 13-14 years old and Boys and Girls 15-17 years old.
Ephraim Tan of Aquatic Performance Swim Club (APSC) and Ashley Lim Yi Xuan of Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) were named the Most Valuable Swimmer for the Boys and Girls 13-14 years old, respectively. This was Ashley’s fourth consecutive Most Valuable Swimmer award after she had clinched the award for 10-12 years old the last three years.
SAC’s Zachary Ian Tan and Ching Hwee repeated their feat from last year, albeit in the higher division when they clinched the Most Valuable Swimmer awards for 15-17-years old. Both swimmers had clinched the award for 13-14 years old in 2017.
For full list of results and event information, please refer to the following link: http://swimming.org.sg/SNAG_2018.aspx