HONG Kong's Robyn Lamsam set a championship record at the Asia Pacific Age Group event yesterday, but was still more than three seconds outside her own 400 metres freestyle national record. Lamsam, taking part in her third tournament in the space of a month, clocked four minutes 26.69 seconds to win the gold in the girls' 15-to-17 age group at the Kowloon Park pool, breaking the old mark of 4:26.75. National coach Bill Sweetenham is hoping she will perform better in the sprint events, which have been the focus of her recent training. ''It was really what I expected of her,'' said Sweetenham. ''Her training for distance events has decreased gradually and I hope she can do better at the 100 metres freestyle. ''I'm hoping for her to swim below 58 seconds.'' Lamsam's national record for the 100 metres freestyle stands at 58.24 seconds, a time she set at Pan-Pacific Championships in Kobe, Japan, earlier this month. Sweetenham was pleased with Hong Kong's opening-day haul of six gold medalswith Fenella Ng uncontested in winning two golds in the girls' over-18 100 metres butterfly and 400 metres freestyle. However, he expressed concern that Hong Kong did not win any medals in the 10-and-under category. Said Sweetenham: ''Overall, there was a tremendous improvement in performances for our swimmers. ''We won more medals in the first morning session than we did in the whole competition last year. That shows how far Hong Kong swimming has come in that time. ''But I am concerned that the youngsters didn't do that well.'' Although no Hong Kong records were established, seven meeting records were broken with Singaporean youngster Gerald Koh turning in outstanding individual performances. Koh, swimming in the boys' 13-to-14 category, won three gold medals and broke the 100 metres backstroke record with a time of 1:01.09. He was also victorious in the 200 metres individual medley and the 400 metres freestyle, where Hong Kong's Billy Kwok turned in an excellent display to finish third. Taiwan lead the medal standings with seven golds helped by a double from veteran Lee Shih-hung, who won the boys' 18-and-over 400 metres freestyle and 200 metres individual medley. Hong Kong and South Korea are joint second with six golds each, with Singapore, thanks to Koh's efforts, on five golds. Indonesia won three gold medals while India's Manikankan Barua won her country's only gold in the girls' 18-and-over 100 metres backstroke.
