KUALA LUMPUR,Aug 20 — The Malaysian synchronised swimmers need much more exposure if they want to break Singapore’s domination in the sport in the SEA Games, according to the free routine squad’s senior member Gan Zhen Yu.
She said lack of international competitions was a major factor why the squad were unable to score more points than the neighbours.
In the team event at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil today, Malaysia had to be satisfied with the silver after accumulating 73.0667 while the Singaporeans amassed 75.1333 for the gold.
Indonesia took the bronze with 71.4667 points.
“Still happy but we planned to get gold. We seldom go for competitions so our points cannot go up. Maybe we have to improve more on our highlights,” said Zhen Yu, whose sister Hua Wei won the gold in the solo technical routine and free duet routine together with partner Zylan Lee Yhing Huey.
Meanwhile, team coach Long Yan said she was very happy with the team’s performance as they only been together for about a year.
“They are still young and not exposed to too many competitions yet. But I believe they still have time to practice and be perfect. Maybe in the next SEA Games we will come back and try to beat them,” she added.
The other members of the team are Zhen Yu, Chai Jia Yue, Foong Yan Yue, Lee Yiat Lum, Lee Yiat Xin, Mandy Lim Jia Jia, Nur Liyana Nadhirah Mohd Fairuz and Ong Jie Wen.
The national team finished their campaign this time around with two gold and three silver. Five gold were on offer. — Bernama
