ELYNN Tan Yilin of Penang may not have broken any Sukma records at the beautiful Tuanku Zara Aquatic Centre in Ipoh but she has powered her way to her fourth individual gold medal by winning the women’s 100m butterfly on the fourth day of competition today.
The 18-year-old, who flew back from the United States just before the Games began on Sept 11, is poised to win her fifth gold medal when she competes in the 50m freestyle on the final day tomorrow.
Elynn clocked 1:03.13 while talented Ho Keesha, who celebrated her 16th birthday on Tuesday, made it a one-two finish for Penang with a time of 1:03.99. Third place went to Lim Shu Qi of Selangor (1:04.79).
Elynn’s gold was the only gold Penang managed to win today after collecting nine golds for the past two days. With that, the team, who also bagged two silver and seven bronze medals today, have now dropped to seventh spot overall from fifth position.
Penang, who aim to finish fifth overall in the 2018 Sukma, have collected 28 gold, 25 silver and 30 bronze medals. They are trailing Terengganu (46-40-47), Federal Territories (42-35-41), Selangor (38-61-57), Sarawak (36-30-56), Perak (34-43-48) and Pahang (30-16-30).
“I was going for a fast time. Winning the gold is just a bonus,” said Elynn, who started studying design at the Iowa State University a month ago.
She had earlier won the 50m backstroke, 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle. In the last Sukma in Sarawak two years ago, Elynn won two golds – the first time she won gold since competing in Sukma in 2011.
Penang state executive councillor Chong Eng was invited to give away the prizes to the winners of the women’s 100m butterfly.
“She has made Penang proud. I hope she will continue to train hard when she gets back to the US and be able to represent Penang and Malaysia,” said Chong Eng. “She is still eligible to swim in the next Sukma.
“Considering that Penang won two golds in the last Sukma, this is a good improvement. The association has also been revamped with the Penang Island City Council mayor (Datuk Yew Tung Seang) as the new president from last year. Hopefully, more new swimmers will be nurtured at the Relau Sports Complex swimming pool.”
Lim Yin Chuen and Koay Wern Rui contributed a bronze medal each in the men’s 100m butterfly and men’s 100m freestyle respectively.
Yin Chuen, whose father Yit Aun was a former national swimming star, was born in the United States while Wern Rui has been studying at the British International School in Phuket for the past two years. He was spotted in 2015 when competing in the national age group championships by the Thai coaches and offered scholarship to study in Phuket and is now training under an Australian coach.
In athletics, heptathlete Koh Ann Yi clinched a silver medal with 4028 points behind Winnie Eng May Xin of Federal Territories, who topscored with 4510 points. Sarawak’s Mazween Ubong Lah got the bronze with 3806 points. There were six competitors.
In tenpin bowling, the Penang men’s team of five finished third with 5757 pinfalls while the women’s team of five, after trailing in second place after the first block, fell to fifth place with 5522 pinfalls.
The Penang sailing team did fairly well by claiming three bronze medals through Israr Hazim (Laser 4.7 Men), Siti Arfah (Big Techno Women) and Nurul Syazwanie (Optimis Girls) while taekwondo exponent (welter weight 80kg) Mohammad Jamal Sheikh Hassan Damanhoori failed to get past his semi-final opponent from Melaka, Hamdanwahid Rinaldi, to settle for the bronze.
Tomorrow, Penang will be banking on boxers Mohd Asuad Mohd Halim and Mohd Aswan Che Azmi when they enter the ring in Kuala Kangsar for the welter weight (69kg) and middle weight (75kg) finals respectively. Mohd Asuad will take on Theena Thayalani Raja Selvan of Federal Territories while Mohd Aswan will face Wan Muhammad Haniff Wan Zahalan of Terengganu.
Story by K.H. Ong
Photos by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis & Nur Afiqah Zainudi and courtesy of Penang State Sports Council
