COMMITTEE - Chinese Swimming Club

SWIMMINGSUB- COMMITTEEHIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEARMatching 2008’s achievement of winning two of thethree major interclub meets, CSC defended the JuniorInterclub title and captured the elusive Open InvitationalMidget Meet hosted by the Singapore Swimming Club.Unfortunately, we relinquished our grasp on the ASEANCup despite putting up a great contest. With just onechange in the coaching staff, our programme remainsvery stable and effective. Having a familiar environmentwould certainly lessen the stress faced by our swimmers inthis era.45 swimmers were selected through the CSC MultipleAge Group Swimming Meet to defend the ASEAN Cupfor the third consecutive year, this time at the SingaporeSports School. Pitted against a formidable team from theSwimfast Aquatic Club, our swimmers had their work cutout. Led by Rainer Ng and Quah Ting Wen, Swimfast were just too strong for CSC despite our best efforts. Although we lostout in terms of gold medals (30 versus 47), we won more medals in total (106 versus 93) and our swimmers Koh Hui Yu andJeremy Tan provided some joy by winning the Best Performer titles for their age groups.Next up was the Singapore Swimming Club’s Open Invitational Midget Meet. Having enjoyed little success in this meet overthe past few years, maximum effort was put into preparing the team for this year’s challenge. The children were put throughalmost two months of intensive training, guided by dedicated Sub-Committee members and coaches. When the big dayarrived, they ended years of disappointment by clinching a convincing win over 13 other local and regional clubs. ZacharyTan and Maximillian Ang added to that by garnering the Best Performer awards for their age groups. It was certainly one ofthe highlights of the year.The Club’s swimmers ended the year by successfully defending the Junior Interclub Swimming Championships title, our 15thtriumph in the competition’s 25-year history. It was also our first back-to-back win since 1995. Before the competition, theforecast was gloomy after the start list was announced. However, with astute changes in strategy and proper preparation,Team CSC overturned that forecasted deficit and emerged as Champions by a comfortable margin. It was another greatperformance by our swimmers in the face of adversity.In national meets, CSC was second to Swimfast Aquatic Club in both the 40th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) SwimmingChampionships 2009 and the 5th Singapore National Swimming Championships (SNSC) 2009. In the SNAG, our swimmerswon 39 Gold medals. Lionel Khoo re-wrote the National Under-14 records for 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke, betteringhis own marks in the 100m and 200m events. With qualification for several major events at stake, our swimmers participatedin the SNSC and were selected to represent Singapore in the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships 2009, 6th Asian AgeGroup Swimming Championships 2009, FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup 2009 and the 25th South-east Asian Games 2009.On the international front, our swimmers fared reasonably well. At the 1st Asian Youth Games, Koh Hui Yu was part of thegolden quartet that broke the National record for the 4x100m Freestyle relay. Lionel Khoo also tasted success with twoBronze medals. Jeremy Tan brought home six medals, five of them personal bests, at the 33rd SEA Age Group SwimmingChampionships. Koh Hui Yu, along with Mylene Ong, Koh Ting Ting and Cheryl Lim, gained valuable experience whenthey competed in the World Championships held in Rome, swimming against the world’s elite. Mylene Ong helped to rewritethe National 4x200m Freestyle relay record. Jeremy Tan snared one Bronze at the Asian Age Group in Tokyo, whereJoshua Ling also won two Bronzes. In the finale to 2009, Koh Ting Ting put in a good performance to achieve a Bronze atthe FINA/Arena Swimming World Cup. In spite of their tender age, SEA Games debutants Cheryl Lim and Koh Hui Yu tastedsuccess by winning one Silver and two Bronzes respectively. Mylene Ong also clinched two relays Golds, an outstandingperformance overall.30