Asian Games: Malaysia’s swimmers reach 4x200m freestyle final as wushu, karate medal bids fall short

NAGOYA, September 21 — Malaysian athletes showcased their talents at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, with notable performances in wushu and karate, though their swimming and other events fell short of the podium. In the women's wushu Changquan event, Lee Jia Rong placed 10th and Loh Ying Ting secured 11th, falling short of a podium spot.

On the men's side, Hong Kong's Lydia Sham Hui Yu claimed the gold, while Sou Cho Man from Macau secured the silver and Indonesia's Eugenia Diva Widodo captured the bronze. In karate, Malaysia's Mohamad Haznil Henry was eliminated in the bronze-medal playoff of the individual kata, losing 0-5 to Hong Kong's Hung Ho Wai Howard. Zakiah Adnan, another Malaysian karate competitor, also failed to advance after losing a tight match to Japan's Sarara Shimada in the repechage of the under-61kg kumite.

Malaysia's men's 4x200m freestyle relay team, comprising Khiew Hoe Yan, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal, Lim Yin Chuen, and Tan Khai Xin, advanced to the final after posting a time of 7:22.05 in the heats. The quartet secured fifth place overall and will compete in the final later that evening. Nevertheless, three Malaysian swimmers did not make it to their respective finals: Andrew Goh missed the cut in the men's 100m breaststroke, while Lim Yin Chuen and Tong Yu Jin failed to advance from the 50m freestyle heats.