FORMER Penang state swimmer Eugene Tan became the first local athlete to win a gold medal in the first Asia Pacific Masters Games (APMG) 2018 at the MBPP Relau Sports Complex today.
Competing in the 200m individual medley (30-34 age group), Eugene clocked 2:51.41 to beat China’s Qiu Ming Feng who managed 3:08.80. Both are aged 34.
Due to lack of entries, their race was run off together with swimmers from the 25-29 age category which was won by China’s 27-year-old Fu Yangbin in 2:24.80.
Malaysia’s Wong Tat Moon, also 27, came second in 3:18.15 while India’s Grandhi Ravi Teja was disqualified.
“I flew back from Singapore yesterday to take part in the championships. I didn’t expect much because I was very busy with work and did not train for it. I just wanted to complete the race,” said Eugene, a nurse in a private hospital.
Eugene has entered for five individual events, the others being 50m & 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 50m breaststroke and 4x50m mixed individual relay with Penang swimmers Lim Yew San, Khoo Teng Iu and Mohd Saiful.
It was a double celebration for Eugene as his mother, former international Lim Yit Bin, won the 100m breaststroke (60-64 age group) in 1:54.87.
“I competed for fun. If I had trained hard, I could have done better,” said Yit Bin, who recently retired from teaching at the Federation School for the Deaf and also as the swimming technical chairman for the Penang Schools Sports Council (MSSPP).
Although the APMG 2018 is officially from Sept 7 to 15, swimming started a day earlier to enable some of the officials to help officiate the 19th Sukma in Perak. The swimming programmes will end on Sept 10 while Sukma will start from Sept 11.
A grand opening ceremony is scheduled to be held at the City Stadium on Sept 8 (Saturday) from 7pm.
Other notable former swimmers who are taking part are siblings Allen Ong and Cindy Ong from Malaysia and Kelvin Yew from Singapore.
Former badminton stars like Ong Ewe Hock and his elder brother, Ewe Chye, 2003 All England singles champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and Sairul Amar Ayob, and Indonesians Frit Mainaky, 68, and former international Edi Ismanto, 54, will be participating. Frit is the uncle of former Olympic and world champion Rexy Mainaky.
In football, the star athletes are former Penang striker G. Shanmugam, Mat Saiful Mohamad and parliamentary deputy speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, who is down to play for the Mongolian team as he entered for the competition as an individual.
Squash will see the participation of former Pakistan champion Shahroke Khan and Singapore’s Marcus Yeap while former international walker P. Sakthirani, 59, and Russia’s World Masters Games long jump champion Oksana Doronkina, 51, will be back in action.
Story & pix by K.H. Ong