National swimmer Welson Sim earns second slot to Rio Olympics

National swimmer Welson Sim booked his second ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympics Games in Brazil in August after splashing his way to the 200m men's freestyle event gold at the 47th Singapore Finance National Age Group Swimming Championship held at the OCBC Aquatic Arena in Singapore today.

The 18-year-old Sarawakian who already qualified for Rio after claiming the gold medal in the 400m freestyle event yesterday, touched the wall in 1 minute 47.67 seconds, just 0.30 seconds inside the "A" timing mark for the Olympics, according to the tournament website;www.swimsnag.com.sg.

Sim's time also saw him break the national record set by Daniel Bego who clocked 1:49.21s in the 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup Championships held in the city-state.

Other national athletes who have qualified for the Olympics are Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, Ooi Tze Liang, Nur Dhabitah Sabri (all in diving), Azizulhasni Awang, Fatehah Mustapa (cycling), Jonathan Wong (shooting), Khairul Anuar Mohamad (archery) and two sailors.

The Malaysian Yachting Association has yet to name the two sailors.