Chan delighted as HK add to tally
Hong Kong coach Chan Yiu-hoi raised his arms in triumph - and the 400m men's freestyle relay at the Milo Asia Swimming Championships still had 50 metres to go.
But Chan knew a second bronze medal for the night was in the bag as Eric Chan, Hong Kong's leading freestyle swimmer, was churning up the pool and even challenging for the silver medal.
Chan, Geoffrey Cheah, Yee Hoi-ping and Cheung Siu-hang all swam above themselves to win the bronze behind the formidable Chinese (3:22.60), with Uzbekistan (3:30.54) second. Hong Kong finished in 3:31.28.
Coach Chan was already in good spirits after Carrie Suen Ka-yi claimed bronze in the women's 50m breaststroke, but was even more demonstrative as Chan set a personal best (51.95) in the final 100 metres of the relay.
'I knew we had a good chance of getting a bronze, but they all swam better than I expected,' Chan said of the quartet. 'In fact, they all set personal bests. Geoffrey is only 15 and set a junior Hong Kong record of 53:67.'
The two bronzes added to Hannah Wilson's surprise gold in the 100 metres freestyle on Sunday and Chan expects Wilson to win silver - and possibly another gold - in the 50m freestyle on the final day of the championships tomorrow.
'I'm very happy,' Chan said. 'All my swimmers have shown improvement and to win three medals so far is very encouraging. We have set six Hong Kong records and eight or nine junior records so far.'
Suen, who is studying psychology at Baptist University, was no match for Ji Liping (31.71) and Wang Qun (31.93), who completed another one-two for China, but held out South Korea's Jung Seul-ki to win bronze in 33.08.
Chan was delighted with Suen's performance, and was expecting more from the 18-year-old. 'She is not as strong and powerful as some of the other girls, but she is hard-working,' Chan said. 'I expect her to improve a little bit more.'
Suen, who won a bronze medal at the East Asian Games in Macau last November at her first international meet, said: 'I'm in good condition and hoped to do well, but I didn't expect to win a bronze.' Suen time last night bettered her previous personal best of 33.38.
China continued their monopoly of the championships, winning all six events last night and have now won 28 of 31 golds, including synchronized swimming, in the first four days of competition.
