SHAH ALAM, April 1 — Welson Sim Wee Sheng continued his impressive form by bagging the 100m freestyle gold on the opening day of the Malaysia Invitational Age Group Championships yesterday and promised to “soon grab another Rio Olympics spot for the country”.
The 19 year-old Sarawakian, however, conceded he has to “forget” about forcing himself to qualify in the 100m for Rio.
“I’m a distance swimmer. After a lot of thinking, I’ve decided to focus on 1,500m freestyle at the Malaysian Open next month (May 5 to 8),” he said.
“For me to meet the category A time of 48.99s would be too difficult. I’ve qualified for Rio in 200m and 400m freestyle, so the next would be 1,500m.
“I’ll work hard to make sure Malaysia gets three A Olympic spots soon.”
At Darul Ehsan Aquatic Centre yesterday, Welson clocked 50.32s to finish ahead of Kuala Lumpur’s Keith Lim (51.87s) and Selangor’s Jie Chan (52.26s).
Earlier this month at the Singapore National Age Group Championships, Welson made history when he became the first Malaysian swimmer to qualify for two “A” Olympic events — 200m and 400m freestyle. He also hit the “B” qualifying mark in 100m freestyle.
Prior to Welson, only Alex Lim Keng Liat had met the “A” time — in 100m backstroke — at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Welson, also competing in 50m, 200m and 400m freestyle at the national meet, is confident he is “close to qualifying” for Rio in “A” category for 1,500m freestyle.
“I clocked 15.35s at the South-east Asia Age Group tournament in Vietnam in December. I passed the B time (15.46s) but the meet wasn’t an Olympic qualifying so it doesn’t count,” said Welson.
“The A time is 15.14s and I know I’m almost there. I just need to push myself a bit more.”
Following the Malaysia Open, the final Olympic qualifiers would be three Mare Nostrum Circuits in Europe (June 4 to 12).
