Lamsam misses chance for medal
HONG KONG completed their Asian Games swimming campaign with relay bronze medallist Robyn Lamsam finishing fourth in the women's 50 metres freestyle at the Big Wave Indoor Pool yesterday.
Lamsam clocked 26.95 seconds, marginally behind Japan's bronze medallist Sumika Minamoto, who touched home in 26.59 seconds.
The final was highlighted by the shock disqualification of China's favourite Le Jingye, who was penalised for two false starts.
But for Lamsam, it was a satisfying end to a rewarding competition, in which she anchored the women's 4?100 metres relay team to the bronze medal, smashing the Hong Kong record by eight seconds in the process.
China's Lu Bin won the race in 25.68 seconds ahead of Japanese silver medallist Naoko Imoto, who timed 26.29.
Mark Kwok Kin-ming finished seventh yesterday in the men's 1,500 metres freestyle with a time of 16:03.03.
There was no final for the event, which was swum over two heats and the swimmer with the fastest time was awarded the gold.
That went to Syria's Hisham Masri, whose time of 15:29.70 was a new Asian Games record.
The Asian Games was the last major assignment for Hong Kong's Australian coach Bill Sweetenham.
Sweetenham, who has been head swimming coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute for more than three years, returns to Australia to help develop their juniors for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The highlight for Hong Kong was definitely the women's 4?100 metre relay team, who clocked three minutes, 54.36 to snatch the bronze ahead of South Korea.
The squad also included Katie Lau, Fenella Ng Gar-loc and Vivien Lee Shih-ying.
Michael Wright also set a new Hong Kong record in the men's 50 metres freestyle.
Wright, fourth in Beijing four years ago, was unable to force his way into the medals reckoning though despite clocking 23.40 to slice 0.10 seconds off his old record.
With the presence of swimmers from the former Soviet bloc countries, Wright was forced to settle for fifth place.
