48 Monday, August 1 2011
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THE NEW PAPER
Swimming World Championships
Sports
POOL SENSATION: Before the race, Sun was already targeting the world record. PICTURE: XINHUA
RISING
SUN
Chinese teenager topples Hackett’s 10-year-old record
C
HINESE teenager Sun Yang toppled swimming’s oldest world record yesterday when he shattered Grant Hackett’s 10-year mark in the men’s 1,500m, ensuring a rousing finish to the Shanghai world championships. Sun, roared on by a capacity crowd, put on a devastating burst at the finish as he made up a deficit of more than two seconds to touch in 14min 34.14sec, 0.42sec inside the legendary mark set at the 2001 championships in Fukuoka. “The coach told me before the race to focus on the gold medal and not to worry about breaking the world record,” said Sun. “It’s not surprising. I had thought about it (breaking the record) before.”
Hackett’s record was the only men’s mark to survive the infamous super-suits era, when muscle-compressing swimwear helped set more than 200 global bests in just two years. Sun’s performance, on the final night, was only the second new record in Shanghai, two years after polyurethane-clad swimmers set 43 new bests at the 2009 championships in Rome. Meanwhile, US star Ryan Lochte, last week’s other record-setter, underlined his supremacy in Shanghai with a superb fifth gold medal, matching his illustrious team-mate Michael Phelps’ haul from 2009. Lochte led from start to finish at the Sea Crown Stadium to retain his 2009 title in 4min 7.13sec, more than four seconds ahead of teammate Tyler Clary, with Japan’s Yuya Horihata third. But Lochte insisted he was “not really happy”, saying he could still make big improvements before next year’s London Olympics.
“For the most part I’m not really happy. I mean getting five gold medals is definitely great but the times I went I know I can go a lot faster,” he said. “There’s a lot of places in my races that I messed up on, where I could have changed and would have gone faster. But I guess I have a whole another year to make sure I have those perfect swims.” Also on the final night, American world record-holder Jessica Hardy made a successful return to the world stage from a doping ban when she won the 50m breaststroke ahead of defending champion Yuliya Efimova of Russia. Hardy, who missed the 2008 Olympics after a positive test and was serving a one-year ban during the 2009 world championships, clocked 30.19sec – outside her record of 29.80 – with teammate Rebecca Soni third.
Good job “I am really excited, I’ve trained so hard for that,” Hardy said. “I am really, really glad that I did it. I performed very well. All of us did a good job. British world record-holder Liam Tancock retained his 50m backstroke title from France’s Camille Lacourt and Gerhard Zandberg of South Africa. Sweden’s Therese Alshammar won the women’s 50m freestyle and America’s Elizabeth Beisel won the 400m individual medley. Lochte has long played second fiddle to Phelps but he has called the tune in Shanghai, beating his contemporary in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley, which he won in world-record time. The 26-year-old also won the 200m backstroke and gave the United States a record fourth straight 4x200m medley world title with a super-fast final leg, after a slow lead-off from Phelps. In the final event of the night, the US won the men’s 4x100m medley relay. The Americans clocked 3min 32.06secs to win ahead of Australia, who took the silver in 3:32.36, while Germany claimed the bronze in 3:32.60. – AFP.
HOCKEY: AHF JUNIOR CUP
No shame in final defeat for gutsy Singapore WITH the scores finely poised at 2-1 and a penalty corner awarded to Singapore, an incensed China team walked off the pitch in protest at the call. The setting was the final of the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Junior Cup in Hong Kong last night and, in Singapore coach Solomon Casoojee’s words, his team had “put fear into China”. And, if the Chinese were indeed worried about the 62nd-minute penalty corner award, they were proven right. After 5-10 minutes off the pitch, they returned to the pitch to a chorus of boos and a Singapore penalty corner which Karleef Sasi Abdullah duly converted to level the scores at 2-2. Said Player of the Tournament Enrico Marican: “We knew half the battle was won. By them walking off they knew we could create something (with the penalty corner) and go on to win the game.”
Singapore didn’t manage to win the game, losing 4-3 on penalties after the scores in extra time were locked at 2-2. Not that the boys were too disappointed. When The New Paper spoke to them over the phone, the background was punctuated by the sounds of unbridled joy. Said Nur Ashriq Ferdaus Zul’kepli: “We celebrated like champions, I’ve never experienced this kind of feeling before.” This was Singapore’s best showing in the Under-21 tournament and it comes a month after another record result at the Under-18 Asia Cup where the Republic finished fourth. The bulk of the team that travelled to Hong Kong played in the Under-18 tournament on home soil. Singapore’s reward for finishing second is a place in the Junior Asia Cup in Malaysia in April, a tournament which serves as a qualifier for the 2013 Junior World Cup.
Said Casoojee: “We’ve stepped up our game from the (Under-18) Asia Cup and I’m really impressed. We’re a lot more consistent, especially tactically. “These boys have unlimited potential. There is no reason why we can’t compete at the top level in Asia and match the likes of South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and China.” His charges, too, were bullish. Said Goalkeeper of the Tournament Samudra Ong: “We only had eight training sessions before the tournament. Imagine if we had three months to prepare... we could have won it.” Singapore’s goals both came from penalty corners, by Nur Ashriq in the 35th minute and Karleef eight minutes from time. Next up on the local hockey calendar is the SEA Cup in November, with Casoojee noting that eight of this team could feature then for the senior national team. – DILENJIT SINGH