Relay quartet and Andrew Goh fall short in Asian Games pool

KUALA LUMPUR: The national men's 4x100m freestyle quartet led by Khiew Hoe Yean, came close to reaching the Asian Games final after finishing 10th overall at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre today.

Hoe Yean, Ananda Lim, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal and Goh Li Jie clocked 3:22.67s to finish fifth in Heat 1.

South Korea (3:19.55), Thailand (3:20.07) and Saudi Arabia (3:20.81) occupied the top three spots.

The time was well below the national mark of 3:20.61 set at last year's SEA Games in Thailand.

Their effort placed them as the second reserves behind Hong Kong (3:21.76), with the top eight teams, led by China (3:18.76), qualifying for the final later today.

Meanwhile, Bryan Leong clocked a season-best 24.67 in the 50m butterfly to finish seventh in Heat 5 and occupy 20th spot overall out of 40 finishers.

His previous best time of the year was achieved at the AP Race London International in May.

The time in the heats was 0.59 seconds slower than his national mark of 24.08, which the 23-year-old swimmer set at the 2024 AP Race London.

Meanwhile, Tong Yu Jing was unable to compete in the event as he is recovering from appendicitis surgery he underwent in Japan on Monday.

Andrew Goh and Tan Khai Xing also missed the cut for the men's 200m breaststroke final, finishing 18th and 19th overall respectively in the men's 200m breaststroke heats.

Andrew registered 2:21.77 to finish fifth in Heat 1, while Khai Xing was placed last among eight swimmers in Heat 3 with 2:23.28.

Their times were pale shadows of Elvin Chia's national record of 2:15.62, the longest-standing national mark set at the Brunei SEA Games in 1999.