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Malaysia divers break Singapore's early grip on gold medals
Malaysia's powerful diving team broke up the early dominance of Singapore and Thailand at the Southeast Asian Games on Saturday, with Ooi Tze Liang and Chew Yiwei winning the men's 10-meter synchronized platform and Cheong Jun Hoong leading Ng Yan Yee in a 1-2 finish in women's three-meter springboard on the first official day of competition
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alaysia's powerful diving team broke up the early dominance of Singapore and Thailand at the Southeast Asian Games on Saturday, with Ooi Tze Liang and Chew Yiwei winning the men's 10-meter synchronized platform and Cheong Jun Hoong leading Ng Yan Yee in a 1-2 finish in women's three-meter springboard on the first official day of competition.
Singapore added six golds in the day session to the seven it had before Friday's elaborate opening ceremonies, and led the medal standing Saturday afternoon with 13 gold and 30 medals overall, well clear of Thailand with seven gold medals and 26 in total. With the two nations expected to vie for top spot in the 11-nation SEA Games, the withdrawal of reigning 200-meter breaststroke champion Nuttapong Ketin amid a doping case was a major setback for the Thai team.
Swimming competition started Saturday, with six finals scheduled in the night session. Nguyen Thi Ahn Vien, one of Vietnam's brightest prospects, set the tone for her campaign with a meet record in the heats of the 400-meter individual medley, easily winning in 4 minutes, 43.93 seconds to wipe more than two seconds off the mark she set at Myanmar in 2013. She had the 400 IM and 800 freestyle finals in the night session.
Nuttapong withdrew from four events, including both men's medleys and two breaststroke events, after discovering he'd tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in an out-of-competition test in Thailand last month.
Thailand chef de mission Thana Chaiprasit said Nuttapong, who carried the Thai flag into the opening ceremony at the London 2012 Olympics, was staying in Singapore awaiting the result of testing on the B sample.
The 22-year-old Nuttapong denied deliberately using clenbuterol, and was quoted in Thai media saying the banned substance must have been in a diet supplement.
Thailand, which topped the medal standings in 2013, picked up golds Saturday in the shooting, canoeing and both the women's and men's traditional dragon boat races ' the events on the water were delayed briefly due to the possibility of lightning.
Maria Claire Adorna overcame an ankle injury to win the women's triathlon and collect the first gold medal of the games for Philippines, edging teammate Marion Mangrobang in the morning race.
Indonesia moved up the medal standings with two gold medals in traditional dragon boats, one in canoe and first place in the equestrian team event.
Cambodia picked up its first title in sepak takraw with victory in the chinlone linking competition, while Myanmar opened its account with gold in canoeing with victory in the men's C2-1000.
In one of the most popular sports locally, vice-captain Chen Huifen celebrated her 100th international cap as Singapore beat Thailand 59-29 to secure a spot in Sunday's netball against Malaysia, which routed Brunei 79-23. Defending champion Singapore and Malaysia played to a 35-35 draw in the preliminary round.
