Hoe Yean, Arvin make historic Asian Games 200m freestyle final

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia placed two swimmers in the final for the first time in the Asian Games men's 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre on Wednesday through Khiew Hoe Yean and Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal.

Hoe Yean, swimming in Heat 4, clocked 1:48.96s to finish third behind China's duo Zang Zhan Shuo (1:48.68) and Xu Haibo (1:48.84).

Arvin also finished third in Heat 3 in 1:49.46, while Japan's Tatsuya Murasa (1:47.60) and Bahrain's Ali Hassan (1:48.66) clocked faster times.

Although the duo were unable to break Welson Sim's national record of 1:47.36, Hoe Yean and Arvin were placed seventh and ninth, respectively, to book their spots in the final, which will be held later on Wednesday.

It was their second final appearance at the Games, as the duo combined with Ananda Lim and Jaydan Tan to finish fifth in the men's 4x200m freestyle final on Monday with a national record of 7:18.79.

As for Hoe Yean, it was his second individual final appearance at the Asiad, after finishing fourth in the men's 400m freestyle final at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

Meanwhile, Bryan Leong was unable to celebrate with his teammates after failing to reach the men's 100m butterfly final.

Bryan clocked 54.19 to finish fifth in Heat 2 and placed 14th overall out of 34 competitors.

Goh Li Jie fared poorly, clocking 56.77 to finish eighth in Heat 3 and occupying the 28th spot in the overall ranking.