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Singapore swimmer sizzles

Yeo wins 6th gold, breaks 6th record at SE Asian Games

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Posted: Friday August 13, 1999 01:14 PM

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (AP) -- Singapore's Joscelin Yeo left no doubt about who was the fastest sprint swimmer at the Southeast Asian Games.

And at the top of the gold medal standings, Malaysia pulled ahead of Thailand again, winning two each in lawn bowls and pencak silat and one in swimming. That gave the Malaysians 50 golds in all to 49 for Thailand and 38 for Indonesia.

Yeo won the 50-meter freestyle Friday, and then came back more than an hour later to win the 400-meter individual medley, giving her a total of six individual gold medals and six games records.

Surprise greeted her loss Monday to Thailand's Pilin Tachakittiranan in the 400-meter freestyle, but she beat Pilin by .78 second in the 50 meters, winning in 26.23 seconds, leaving each with six golds. Pilin won three of hers in relays.

Yeo also missed at least three races when an elbow injury flared up, but her victories Friday helped make Singapore one of the biggest overall winners of the day.

The team also had three golds in pencak silat, giving it 18 in all and fourth place overall.

The 20-year-old Yeo won the individual medley in 4 minutes, 51.87 seconds, beating Malaysia's Sia Wai Yen by .65 seconds.

"Her 100-meter race are close to world class performances," said her coach, David Lim. "It's not her gold medal haul in the SEA Games that matters most, but her performance in the Olympics. Her future is bright."

Pilin gained another silver medal Friday in the 200-meter butterfly, more than 2 seconds behind teammate Praphalsai Minpraphal. Thailand's Vicha Ratanachote won the men's 200-meter freestyle.

Indonesia's Albert Sutanto won the men's 100-meter butterfly by .29 seconds over Malaysia's Alex Lim, and Malaysia won the men's 4x100-meter medley relay.

In pencak silat, Vietnamese won seven of the day's 15 gold medal bouts. Singapore and Indonesia won three each, and Malaysia won two in the sport, a dance-lie martial art whose fighters, clad in black with baseball-style chest protectors, score with whirling kicks and open-handed blows.

The Vietnamese male winners were Thah Thuy Nguyen in the 50-kilogram class, Van Chin Dang at 75 kilograms, Huu Long Nguyen at 80 kilograms, Van Hung Nguyen at 85 kilograms, and Bach Nhut Nguyen Thanh at 90 kilograms. In women's competition, Ngoc Ann Nguyen won at 55 kilograms and Thi Thuy Dang at 65 kilograms.

Singapore had winners in three men's divisions -- Mohd Zulfakar Mohd Ramli at 60 kilograms, Abdul Kadir Mohd Ibrahim at 70 kilograms, and Sheik Alauddin Yacoob Marican at 95 kilograms.

Two Indonesian women won -- Permata Kemalasari A. Ladowo at 50 kilograms and Ni Made Wahyuni at 70 kilograms. Abas Akbar won in the men's 65-kilogram division.

For Malaysia, Shuhardi Chin won in the men's 55-kilogram class and Mohd Azrin Abdul Malik won at 90 kilograms.

Malaysian lawn bowlers won both the men's and women's pairs. Jusoh Ibrahim and Tahir Mohd Tazman beat Brunei's Mohd Salleh Lokman and Brahim Naim 23-18 in the men's final, and Siri Zalina Ahmad and Nor Hashimah Ismail defeated Singapore's Mary Lim and Lew Foong Yoo 21-12 in the women's.

The Malaysian men's hockey team beat Indonesia 8-0 in its final preliminary round game, and still has not been scored on. In Saturday's final, it was to meet Singapore, which beat Thailand 3-0 in its last preliminary atch. Singapore has only one loss -- but that was 7-0 to Malaysia.

Malaysia also is in the women's hockey final, against Thailand.

In tennis, Filipino Bryan Juinio prevented an all-Thai men's singles final by beating second seed Danai Udomchoke 6-3, 6-4.

But both the men's and mixed doubles will be all-Thai affairs, while the women's doubles final will be all Indonesians.

For the men's singles gold Saturday, No. 4 seed Juinio was to meet top seed Pradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Indonesia's Suwandi, seeded third.

Paradorn also is in the men's doubles final with his brother Narathorn, and Naathorn is in the mixed doubles final with Montika Anuchan. The brothers won the men's doubles gold medal at the Asian Games in December.

Women's singles top seed Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia advanced to the women's singles final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Malaysia's Khoo Chin Bee, the fourth seed. She will meet second seed Maricris Fernandez of the Philippines, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over third seed Orawan Wongkamalasai of Thailand.

Thailand, winner of five Asian Games gold medals in sepak takraw in December, was to meet Malaysia in the SEA Games regular final Saturday. The Thais beat Brunei 15-3, 15-2 in the semifinals, and Malaysia defeated Singapore 15-3, 15-3. The Thais already won the team event here.

Despite leaving its top players at home, Indonesia reached the finals in four badminton events.

The women's doubles will be an all-Indonesian competition, while the mixed doubles will be all Malaysian.

 

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