KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) -- The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) is betting on four more national athletes qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August.
OCM president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar said that currently, 33 athletes had qualified for the Beijing Olympics.
"I am confident another four from three different sports will make the trip, as well," he said, singling out the four as Foo Jian Beng, Marellyn Liew (swimming), Kimberley Yap (triathlon) and Norashila Khalid (athletics).
Jian Beng and Liew -- voted Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Terengganu Sukma respectively -- created new national records in swimming and are among the strong candidates to make the trip.
Jian Beng created a new national record of 50.94s in the mens 100m freestyle to better the Olympic qualifying time of 50.95s and erased former national swimmer Allan Ong's old record of 51.31s set at the 2001 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
Meanwhile, Sabah lass Liew recorded a national record in the women's 100m butterfly with a new time of 1:01.82s, re-writing Luisa Los Santos' old record of 1:02.08s set at the Korat SEA Games last year.
However, Sukma is not recognised as one of the qualifying meets for the Olympics and paid put to Jian Beng's hopes of donning national colours in Beijing.
Tunku Imran said although the Sukma was not recognised as one of the qualifying meets for the Olympics, the OCM would try to appeal to the Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) to recognise the event to enable more athletes to compete in the prestigious event.
He said this would be their last opportunity to qualify before the July 15 deadline.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, 26 athletes qualified for the games.
Their disciplines comprised archery, athletics, diving, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, cycling, shooting, yachting, badminton, taekwondo and weightlifting.
-- BERNAMA
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