Kuala Lumpur: Olympic swimming champion Joseph Schooling grabbed his second gold medal of the Southeast Games yesterday as hosts Malaysia brushed off royal opposition to reign supreme on the medals table.
Schooling led Singapore to victory in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay in a Games-record 3min 17.85sec, as the 100m butterfly Olympic gold-medallist pressed his bid for six titles in Kuala Lumpur.
“It’s a great feeling. I just tried to do my best for my team, tried to get them ahead,” Schooling said. “I’m glad we could get a new record and win.”
Vietnam’s “Little Mermaid” Nguyen Thi Anh Vien also set a new Games record of 2:13.64 in the women’s 200m backstroke and won the 400m freestyle to reach three gold medals for the competition. There were further swimming successes for Singapore as Roanne Ho clinched the women’s 50m breaststroke in a tournament-record 31.29, and Quah Zheng Wen won the men’s 200m butterfly in 1:57.95.
But the busiest day of the competition so far, with 45 titles on offer, belonged to Malaysia, who scored victories across a swathe of events to build their lead on the medals table. Malaysia won the men’s team time trial cycling, 18 minutes ahead of Thailand, and in gymnastics Tan Fu Jie and Jeremiah Loo shared men’s pommel horse gold and Tan Ing Yueh won the women’s vault.
The hosts also took gold in both men’s and women’s karate, wushu, petanque, mixed doubles bowling and the women’s 25m pistol.
