PETALING JAYA, May 10 — Chui Lai Kwan will be excluded from the national squad that compete in the last Olympic qualifying meet in Mare Nostrum Circuit in Europe next month.
National coach Paul Birmingham explained only Singapore SEA Games individual medallists were chosen for the European meet.
This means the Sabahan, who met the Olympic B qualifying mark for the 50m freestyle, will have to wait until July to find out if she merits a ticket to the Rio Games.
Only swimmers who meet the A mark gain automatic entry to the Olympics while those who meet the B mark will be invited by the International Swimming Federation fromJuly 5 onwards to compete until a cap of 900 swimmers are reached.
“The National Sports Council decided the requirement for the trip should be individual medallists from the last SEA Games so there is nothing we can do,” said Birmingham.
“As such, we will only take Welson Sim, Phee Jinq En, Khoo Cai Lin, Wong Fu Kang and Erika Kong to Europe.
“She (Lai Kwan) claims we are practising double standards by taking Fu Kang, who is based in Phuket, but he won gold at the Singapore Games. So I don’t know what she is talking about.”
He advised Lai Kwan to make alternative arrangements if she wanted to secure her ticket to the Olympics.
“She had an opportunity to do so at the Malaysia Open last weekend but failed. There is nothing we can do,” he said.
Lai Kwan has been training under 2000 Olympian, Marilyn Chua since leaving the national squad in 2011.
Lai Kwan met the Olympic B cut in 50m freestyle at the Singapore SEA Games last year with a time of 25.82s. The qualifying mark is 26.17s.
Lai Kwan, 26, competed in all major competitions except the Olympics.
