Sarawak swim star Kelly skips Borneo Games with eye on SEA Games
by Eve Sonary Heng · Borneo Post OnlineKUCHING (Sept 13): Sarawak’s swimming sensation Kelly Teo Yao will have to miss the Borneo Games in Kuching next week as she focuses on international duty and the build-up to the SEA Games in December.
Kelly, who captured six gold, one silver and two bronze medals at last year’s 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma), has confirmed with The Borneo Post that her immediate schedule prioritises a high-intensity block of training with the national team followed by a major international assignment.
“This month, our team plans to go to Thailand for a training camp (Sept 15-25), and after that we will head to India to compete in the Asian Championships (Sept 27 – Oct 2),” said the 19-year-old who is juggling school at Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur with the intensity of training under national coach Magnus Andersen.
“My schedule is one week eight sessions, sometimes my class time clashes with training,” she added.
Meanwhile, Malaysia swimming technical director Megan Oesting revealed that the national squad is entering its final training cycle. She picked Olympians Khiew How Yean (men’s 400m freestyle) and Phee Jing En (women’s breaststroke specialist) plus the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay quartet as Malaysia’s best prospects in the Asian Championships and SEA Games.
Kelly is slated for the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle. She qualified for the finals in all three events as a 17-year-old in her SEA Games debut in 2023 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She finished sixth in the 400m and 800m, and 7th in the 200m.
Her aim of course is to advance into medal contention in her second appearance in December in Bangkok, Thailand.
“I have been training diligently and with full focus over the past few months, and I am especially looking forward to pushing my limits at this year’s SEA Games,” she said.