GOLD COAST, April 11 — National swimmer Welson Sim wants to leave behind his disappointment in the 2018 Commonwealth Games here, and focus on preparing for the Asian Games in Jakarta, this August.
The Sarawak-born swimmer failed to win any medals in the four events he competed in, namely 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 1,500m freestyle.
“I want to forget the Commonwealth Games and continue to focus on the Asian Games which is just a few months away. I’m aiming for a medal in Jakarta later.
“In preparation for the Asian Games, I will be joining a camp abroad, after the Malaysian Open in May,” he said after ending his run at the Games last night.
The Malaysian Open is the qualifying tournament for the Jakarta Asian Games, but Welson has qualified for the Asian Games with the time of 3 minutes 50.38 seconds he recorded in the Games in Incheon four years ago, in the 400m freestyle.
Welson said his challengers in the Asian Games would be comparable to those in the Commonwealth Games this time around.
At Gold Coast, Welson managed to enter the 400m freestyle final, becoming the first national swimmer to do so since 2002, but eventually finished seventh in the final round, clocking in at 3:53.36s.
In the 200m freestyle event, Welson failed to break the national record of 1:47.36s like he wanted to, instead, finishing in 1:49.58s, and failing to qualify for the final.
His performance worsened in the freestyle 100m event, where he was ranked 27th after clocking in at 50.91s, after three days of continuous action from April 5 to 7.
However, after a two-day rest, Welson bounced back to finish fifth in the 1,500m freestyle event (15:31.14s).
“I started with 400m freestyle, and it was pretty good. So I reached the finals, but it did not end well. I was a bit disappointed. After the 200m event, I met coach Paul Birmingham to discuss what I needed to do for the next two events.
“I think in the 1,500m event I finished with a pretty good result despite not being able to overcome my best record this season, but it was better compared to the 400m and 200m events,” he said, commenting on his overall performance at the Games.
Welson also did not rule out the possibility that fatigue played a part in his poor performance, in the wake of a packed schedule since last month. — Bernama
