| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam national synchronised swimmers Jacqueline Lim Guan Fan and Nur Hafizah binti Ahmad finished in eighth place in the Duets Technical Routine finals in the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games after posting a total score of 50.9759 points at the National Aquatic Centre in KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil yesterday.
The national synchronised pair was awarded a total of 15.3000 points for execution, 15.6000 points for impression and 20.0759 points for elements from a panel of judges.
Jacqueline and Nur Hafizah underlined the need to maintain their focus in their last event in the Duet Free Routine.
“Unfortunately our first performance didn’t go as we had planned and hoped, we can do much better than what we did today, as we have proved from our previous competitions,” the pair said in an interview with the Weekend Bulletin.
“We still have one more event so we have to stay focused on that and we will do better,” they concluded.
Despite the result, synchro coordinator and team manager Awangku Abdul Farid bin Pengiran Idrus felt that it was a marked improvement from the national swimmers compared to their performance in the Japan Open FINA Synchro World Series.
“The swimmers might be nervous since this is our first participation in the SEA Games. We hope the girls will do better in the next event in the Duet Free Routine,” said the team manager.
“We’ll review our performance today and look at the ways we can improve for our next event,” he added.
Singapore’s pair of Miya Yong Hsing and Debbie Soh Li Fei clinched gold after registering an unbeatable mark of 75.1791 in a near flawless display of synchronised swimming to blow their Malaysian rivals off the waters.
Debbie Soh has already won gold for the Republic in the Solo Free Routine and silver in the Solo Technical Routine while 17-year old Miya Yong claimed bronze both in the Solo Free Routine Solo Technical Routine.
The Malaysians were hoping to continue their gold medal assault in the SEA Games and get one off their fierce rivals Singapore with a one-two in the podium.
The score knocked the Malaysian duo of Chai Jia Yue and Wong Mei Teng who temporarily grabbed hold of top spot with a score of 68.9187 points but with their compatriots due to take their turn their point tally suddenly hanging on a tightrope.
The Malaysian hopes for gold shifted to the pair of Gan Hua Wei and Lee Yhing Huey who announced their intent with a backflip.
But after the board read a total of 74.3659 points, Singapore were on their way in collecting their second synchro gold and it would have taken an immeasurable effort from the Indonesians, who were next in line, to outperform their excellent rivals.
Indonesia pair of Anisa Feritrianti and Claudia Megawati Suyanto secured a podium finish after edging Malaysia’s Chai Jia and Wong Mei with a total of 68.9504 points in the last act of the routine.
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