Local swimmer ties best result in Hangzhou Asian Games

Breaststroke swimmer Terence Chao Man Hou has finished sixth at the Men’s 100 meters event at the Hangzhou Asian Games, while preparing for a Men’s 50 meters event on Sept. 29.

Dubbed Macau’s king of breaststroke, the athlete’s main strength is in the 50 meters event, while 100 meters is his weakest point.

However, he entered the final of the 100 meters event in this Asian Games, held in Hangzhou, China. Despite his diligence, he lost to five other swimmers at the final, among them two mainland, two Korean and one Japanese swimmer. The other two swimmers were Indian and Singaporean.

Chao finished with a time of 1:01.53, about four seconds behind the champion. In fact, he has improved because at the last Asian Games, he was unable to enter the men’s 100 meters final event at all. He said his current result is better than he expected.

After this match, he will focus on preparations for the 50 meters event, in which he believes he will perform even better. He said he will relax a little on the first day after this big match, then start with technique refinement and gradually increase the rhythm for the 50 meters event.

Reviewing his performance in the 100 meters event, the swimmer thought he started well in the final.

“For the first 20 meters, I performed better than the semi-final,” he told local media Happy Macao – Macau Sports Channel at a post-match interview.

“At a later stage, whether it was from feeling tired or the pressure from my competitors, I couldn’t maintain my rhythm.”

He added that his training in the US did help with his improvements. AL