Malaysian swimmers made a superb start to their campaign on the first day of the 2023 ASEAN Para Games (APG) when they delivered six gold medals, two silver and one bronze here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
At the same time too, three national swimmers – who are part of the Malaysian para athletes that are being sponsored by Allianz through the National Sports Council – also broke the APG record.
Mohd Adib Iqbal Abdullah first broke the tournament record in the men’s 100 metre breaststroke event SB14 (intellectual disability) with a record of one minute 9.54 seconds to beat Ariel Joseph Montarde from the Philippines (1:13.59s) and Singapore’s Darren Wei (1:18.82s).
The Games’ record of 1:10.87s was set by Adib at the last APG edition in Solo, Indonesia.
In the meantime, Carmen Lim also won the gold medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke event SB8 (physical disability) when she recorded 1:41.32s, edging Thai athlete Chaiwong Peakaithip (1:46.32s) and Vietnam’s Thi My Le (1:47.83s).
The previous record (1:42.58s) was held by Thin Thin Khaine from Myanmar which was at the Singapore APG in 2015.
Youngster Muhammad Imaan Aiman Muhammad Redzuan then kept up the pace to win the S14 (intellectual disability) 50m backstroke event with 31.01s thus erasing his own record of 29.27s.
Compatriot Duran Yaspi Imam Basori took the silver with 31.01s and Indonesia’s Fathur Rizky (31.76s) for the bronze.
Three more gold medals were obtained through Abd Halim Mohammad who won both the 100m breaststroke SB8 (physical disability) and the 100m freestyle S8 (physical disability) while Fraidden Dawan won the 400m freestyle S10 (physical disability) event.
Photos Courtesy #MSN
