Malaysia’s men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team narrowly missed qualifying for the final at the Asian Games held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on September 24. The quartet consisting of Khiew Hoe Yean, Arvin Shaun Singh, Ananda Lim Yin Chuen, and Goh Li Jie finished fifth in their heat with a time of 3:22.67 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, placing 10th overall—two positions short of advancing to the final round.

South Korea led the first heat with a time of 3:19.55, followed by Thailand (3:20.07) and Saudi Arabia (3:20.81). The Malaysian team’s performance fell short of their national record of 3:20.61, which was set during the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok last December.

Individually, Malaysian swimmers faced similar challenges in their respective events. Bryan Leong posted a season-best showing in the men’s 50m butterfly heats, clocking 24.67 seconds to finish seventh in Heat 5. Leong, who holds the national record of 24.08 seconds established last year, had a previous best of 24.99 seconds this season, recorded at the AP Race London International in May.

In the men’s 800m freestyle final B, Dhuha Zulfikry finished 14th overall with a time of 8:13.30, well behind the gold-medalist Zhang Zhanshuo of China, who won the event with a time of 7:42.49.

Malaysian swimmers Andrew Goh and Jayden Tan Khai Xin also missed the cutoff for the men’s 200m breaststroke final. Goh finished fifth in Heat 1 with 2:21.77, while Khai Xin placed last in Heat 3, clocking 2:23.28. Both athletes are scheduled to compete in additional events, with Andrew set to swim in the 50m breaststroke heats and Khai Xin participating in the 200m butterfly heats.

Khiew Hoe Yean will continue his campaign in the 400m freestyle heats, while Goh Li Jie is slated to compete in the 200m butterfly heats as well. Malaysia’s swimming team will look to improve on their results in these upcoming events.