MICHAEL Wright set a Hong Kong record in the men's 50 metres freestyle, but was unable to complement his effort with a medal last night in Hiroshima. Wright clocked 23.40 seconds at the Big Wave Indoor Pool, slicing 0.10 of a second off his record to finish fifth in the final. Only an arm's length separated Wright and bronze-medallist Jiang Chengji, of China, who timed 23.24, with Kazakhstan's Serguei Borissenko fourth on 23.25. China's Hu Bin won the gold in a new Games record of 22.76 with Kazakhstan's Alexei Hovrin winning the silver in 23.12. For a few minutes after the race, Wright thought he finished fourth as the scoreboard displayed an incorrect time for Borissenko. But the error was soon corrected and Wright was left to ponder another near-miss following his fourth in Beijing four years ago. 'I'm happy with the record, but I would have liked a medal,' said Wright, 28. 'I watched it again on the monitor and there was not much in it. 'I'm trying to look at the positive side of it. That time would have got me a bronze medal in Beijing and with the former Soviet countries taking part as well, it makes the competition much stronger. So I'm trying to look at it that way. I have no regrets.' Wright had the sixth fastest heat time of 23.72, with Hong Kong's other 50-metre sprinter, Arthur Li Kai-yien, narrowly missing out on the final with the ninth fastest time of 23.99. Li finished second in the B final in a time of 24.00. Thailand's Changkasiri won the race in 23.94. Hong Kong's Mark Kwok Kin-ming finished seventh in the men's 200 metres butterfly final in 2:05.63. It was more than a second off Tsang Yi-ming's seven-year-old national record of 2:04.07. Hong Kong's women's 4 ? 100 metres medley relay team, with two members of the bronze-winning 4 ? 100 metres team, were sixth in the final yesterday in 4:28.63. Robyn Lamsam swam the anchor freestyle leg with her fellow bronze medallist Katie Lau swimming the penultimate butterfly leg. Backstroker Caroline Ng kicked off for Hong Kong with Heidi Wong providing the breaststroke leg. Hong Kong go into today swimming competition with Arthur Li taking part in the men's 200 metres individual medley.
