Teong Tzen Wei bags Singapore’s first swim medal of Asian Games with silver in 50m butterfly
Singapore Swimmer Teong Tzen Wei poses with his silver medal in the men’s 50m butterfly at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Sep 28, 2023. (Photo: SportSG/Andy Chua)
HANGZHOU: After a disappointing Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia earlier this year, swimmer Teong Tzen Wei had a simple message to send.
“I’ll be back.”
And at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre’s aquatic arena on Thursday (Sep 28), Teong kept his word.
The 25-year-old clinched Singapore’s first swimming medal of the 2023 Asian Games, after finishing second in the men’s 50m butterfly in a time of 23.34s. This is also his first Asiad medal.
The silver brought with it “mixed emotions”, said the Singaporean.
“I'm happy to get our first medal but sad to be getting a silver again like in the Commonwealth Games and the SEA Games. So, mixed emotions now,” he explained.
“But I’ll enjoy my moment as it's been a tough season … Tomorrow’s a new day and I will look to find ways to become better and improve because I’m not satisfied.”
South Korea’s Baek Inchul pipped Teong to the wall in a new Games record of 23.29s, while Kazakhstan’s Adilbek Mussin finished third (23.44s).
“It’s good that he's back on the podium and being able to experience that after a year from post Commonwealth (Games),” said national head coach Gary Tan.
“The good thing for me is to see his confidence back up again. Hopefully from there, we can start building his confidence to get into qualification phase towards the Olympics.”
The Asian record of 22.93s, set in 2017, belongs to Teong’s compatriot Joseph Schooling.
At the last Asian Games in 2018, the Singapore swim team won six medals, including two golds courtesy of Schooling.
Teong’s teammate Mikkel Lee, who qualified for the final with the sixth-fastest time, finished 7th in a time of 23.60s.
It has been a testing 2023 for Teong.
At the SEA Games earlier this year, he was pipped to gold in the same event by Lee. In the 50m freestyle, compatriot Jonathan Tan touched home before him.
At the World Championships in July, Teong did not make the semi-finals of both events.
However, earlier at this Asian Games, Teong showed signs of returning to his best.
In the men’s 50m freestyle final on Monday, Teong finished sixth with a time of 22.26s. He later revealed that he had been dealing with an elbow ligament injury since late last year.
“Every time I don't do well or do well, it’s the same thing … You will either choose to stop or choose to go. But if you choose to go, you need to just recommit and just learn and move on,” said Teong.
“I guess I'm very stubborn, I don’t want to give up. Maybe I just think every chance that I have and because I'm stubborn, once in a while things like that (result today) can happen.“
MORE NATIONAL RECORDS FOR SINGAPORE
Teammate Letitia Sim set a new national record in the 200m breaststroke final later in the evening - her fourth of the Games.
But the Singaporean had to settle for fourth place, missing out on bronze by 0.02s.
She had come agonisingly close to bronze on Wednesday too, missing out on a podium spot in the 100m breaststroke by 0.12s.
“That was a huge, huge time drop for me,” said Sim. “I felt it was good, I felt like where I needed to be.“
China’s Ye Shiwen won gold, South Korea’s Kwon Sehyun took silver and Japan’s Runa Imai the bronze.
In the women’s 50m freestyle, Amanda Lim took fourth while Quah Ting Wen finished fifth.
The event was won by China’s Zhang Yufei, who clocked a new Games record (24.26s). Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey took the silver while China’s Cheng Yujie bagged bronze.
The Singapore men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team also broke the national mark.
Jonathan Tan, Quah Zheng Wen, Ardi Zulhilmi Azman and Lee clocked a time of 3:14.77, smashing the previous best mark by two seconds, but finishing fourth.
China won the event, while South Korea clinched silver and Japan finished third.
The relay team’s fourth-placed finish was Singapore’s ninth of the Games so far.
“Everybody stepped up to do their job and it’s a good step for Singapore swimming … especially with Paris (Olympics) coming up next year,” said Lee.
