The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Christina lands prized ticket to World Aquatics Championships
- Chong Wei up against China’s rising stars in Indonesia Open
- Phelps beaten in his pet event for just the second time since 2002
| Christina lands prized ticket to World Aquatics Championships Posted: 20 Jun 2011 05:20 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Young breaststroker Christina Loh (pic) has landed a prized ticket to the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai next month after rocking the 35th edition of the South East Asian age-group swimming championships in Vietnam recently. The 16-year-old made the biggest splash among the Malaysian swimmers as she set new meet records en route to winning all the three breaststroke races in her first participation in the Group 1 age-group category. Christina equalled her own national mark of 32.31 for the second time this year in claiming the 50m breaststroke final, erasing the seven-year-old standing record belonging to Vietnam swimmer Bui Thi Hai. The qualifying standard for the World Championships for the women's 50m breaststroke is also 32.31. Christina will thus join Khoo Cai Lin (women's 800m freestyle), Chan Kah Yan (women's 50m backstroke), Chui Lai Kwan (women's 100m freestyle) and Kevin Yeap (men's 800m freestyle) to make her debut appearance at the world meet. Christina also won the 100m breaststroke gold medal with an impressive time of 1:11.29 to smash the previous record of 1:14.20 held by Sandy Mo of Singapore since 2004. The Penang-born lass, who moved to Kuala Lumpur to pursue a career in swimming, made it a clean sweep of all breaststroke titles by coming out tops over the 200m distance as well. Christina clocked 2:36.97 to better the previous record of 2:38.50 set by Ketin Nuttapang of Singapore in 2009. Christina has been blazing a hot trail in the shorter women's breaststroke races as she dipped below the 33-second mark for the first time at the national age-group meet in March. Christina set 32.31 to improve on her own national mark of 33.22 at that time and she has now emerged as a potential gold medallist for Malaysia at the Indonesia SEA Games in November. Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia secretary Edwin Chong said Christina is looking good to bag her first SEA Games gold medal if she can clock a similar time in Palembang. "The women's 50m breaststroke event will be contested at the SEA Games for the first time and she has swam the fastest time in the region this year. "In fact, she also stands a chance to fight for the 100m breaststroke gold medal if she improves. The women's breaststroke races will be strong prospects for gold as we can also hope on Siow Yi Ting. "She has returned home here to train with us after a long break to concentrate on her studies in the United States and we hope she will be ready competitively by the end of the year," he said. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Chong Wei up against China’s rising stars in Indonesia Open Posted: 20 Jun 2011 05:19 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: World No. 1 singles shuttler Lee Chong Wei may find China's new talents more challenging than some of their old stars at the Indonesia Open which begins in Jakarta tomorrow. The top seeded Chong Wei may meet one of China's younger generation of players – Chen Long, Wang Zhengming and Du Pengyu – in his path of the Premier Super Series event. And Chong Wei admits that out of the three, the 2008 world junior champion Zhengming has some special strokes that puts him way ahead of the other emerging stars in China. In the Singapore Open, which ended on Sunday, the 21-year-old Zhengming defeated Olympic and world champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia in the second round before bowing out to compatriot and eventual champion Chen Jin in the semi-finals. Chong Wei said that the lanky Zhengming has spiced up the competition in the men's singles event. "I have never lost to him before but he has some special strokes. He is even better than his senior player Chen Jin as far as being deceptive is concerned. One has to be wary if they are to play Zhengming," said Chong Wei. The Malaysian has played Zhengming three times but the toughest was at the South Korea Open this year when Chong Wei had to slogged for his 21-14, 21-19 win in the quarter-finals. In Indonesia, Chong Wei is in the same half with Indonesian Tommy Sugiarto, Zhengming, Chen Long, Du Pengyu, Japan's Tago Kenichi, South Korean Lee Hyun-il, Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark and Vietnam's Nguyen Tien Minh. Barring any upsets, Chong Wei may meet Zhengming, Hyun-il or Tien Minh in the last eight. Only second seed Lin Dan pose a real big problem for Chong Wei from the lower half, which also consist of South Korea's Park Sung-hwan, Denmark's Peter-Gade Christensen, Chen Jin, Bao Chunlai and Indonesian Simon Santoso. However, it all depends on Lin Dan's condition especially when he had conceded a walkover to Chen Jin in the final of Singapore Open on Sunday due to a stomach ailment. Chong Wei, however, is not bothered whether Lin Dan competes or not but would rather focus on his mission to win the Indonesia Open for the third time. "The Indonesia Open is an important tournament for me because of the Olympic Games qualifying points. I intend to do well. A good outing will also put me in good position ahead of the World Championships (which will be held in London from Aug 8-14)," he added. Meanwhile, Liew Daren and Mohd Hafiz Hashim will begin their campaign in the qualifying tournament of the Indonesia Open today. If they make it to the main draw, Liew will take on Taufik while Hafiz will face Kasuzhi Yamada of Japan in the first round. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Phelps beaten in his pet event for just the second time since 2002 Posted: 20 Jun 2011 05:17 PM PDT SANTA CLARA (California): Australian Nick D'Arcy handed Michael Phelps another 200m butterfly defeat on Sunday, edging the world record-holder and Olympic champion at the Santa Clara Grand Prix. Phelps, owner of 14 Olympic gold medals, was nearly a body length ahead coming off the final turn, but D'Arcy reeled him in to win in 1:55.39 to the 1:55.40 of the American great. D'Arcy, 23, became just the second man since 2002 to beat Phelps in the event. Phelps had stretched his 200m butterfly winning streak to almost a decade when he fell to China's Wu Peng in consecutive races in the event this year – at the Michigan Grand Prix in April and the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix in May. Phelps, who recently completed demanding high altitude training in Colorado, said that despite his defeat, he hoped he was on track for the World Championships in Shanghai next month. "I'm actually in a lot better place mentally than I was a couple of months ago and a couple of weeks ago," said Phelps, who also plans to compete in the 100m and 200m butterfly taces at a meeting in Montreal in a fortnight. "Being able to come down from altitude and being able to do some of the work I did there, I think is going to pay off." D'Arcy, second to Phelps at the Pan Pacific Championships last year, was delighted with the victory. "It's always great to beat somebody who's possibly the greatest athlete who ever lived," said D'Arcy, who didn't qualify for the World Championships. "Any chance you get to beat him, you've got to take it." At the halfway stage, D'Arcy admitted he did not think he would overtake Phelps. "If you had asked me if I'd win at the 100m mark, I'd say no. If you'd ask me at the 150m mark, I'd say maybe," D'Arcy said. "I snuck a peek out of the corner of my eye and saw him, and I thought, 'Well, I have a chance.'" Emily Seebohm grabbed another gold for Australia, winning the women's 100m backstroke in 59.77 despite the after-effects of a bout of food poisoning that saw her withdraw from Saturday's races. American teen Missy Franklin was second in 59.98 and Australia's Meagen Nay third in 1:00.96. American world record-holder Ariana Kukors won the women's 200m individual medley in a blistering 2:09.53, with Australian Stephanie Rice second in 2:11.39. Kukors' time saw her move ahead of Australia's Alica Coutts (2:09.68) as the fastest in the world this year. – AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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