Welson, Jinq En Qualify For World Championship

KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 (Bernama) – National swimmers Welson Sim and Phee Jinq En have qualified for the 18th FINA World Championships, which will be held in Gwangju, South Korea on July 12 to 28. Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) honorary secretary Mae Chen said both qualified under the B category. “If they are not chosen by International Swimming Federation (FINA) in the pool of B qualifiers, then we will send them as wild cards,” she told reporters after the working committee meeting at the National Sports Council here Friday. Welson smashed the men’s 400m freestyle national record in winning silver at the New South Wales Championships in Australia in March. The 22-year-old swimmer clocked 3 min 49.29 sec to erase his previous record of 3:49.48s set at the Mare Nostrum in Monaco two years ago. The Sarawak-born swimmer has passed the qualifying time of 3:56.14s set for the World Championship while Jinq En beat the qualifying mark of 32.31s. Jinq En made it under the B qualifying cut after she rewrote her own national record in the women's 50m breaststroke when advancing to the final of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. The 20-year-old swimmer, who set the then national mark of 31.54s en route to winning silver medal at the 2017 SEA Games, clocked 31.46s in Heat Three for the fifth overall fastest time. Meanwhile, Mae Chen said Asum would evaluate other swimmers who would participate in the Singapore National Swimming Championships next month. “We hope that more swimmers can qualify for the world championship,” she added. Commenting on the 2020 Olympics, Mae Chen said that after the world championship in June, Asum would identify competitions for the swimmers as their preparation for the games. She added that Asum would work hard and try to push all the swimmers with potential to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games. -- BERNAMA