Tears for Singapore women’s 4x100m medley squad after disqualification denies team Asian Games bronze

HANGZHOU, China: Delight turned into despair for Singapore women’s 4x100m medley relay team - touching home third in Friday's final (Sep 29) - only to learn soon after that they had been disqualified. 

The Sim sisters - Levenia and Letitia - and the Quah siblings - Jing Wen and Ting Wen - combined for what they thought was Singapore's second medal in the pool at this Games, finishing the race behind eventual winners Japan and runners-up South Korea. 

According to the official results published on the Asian Games website, Ting Wen - swimming the final freestyle leg - had jumped in 0.1s early during the handover from Jing Wen.

As a result of the disqualification, Hong Kong moved up from fourth place to third.

Singapore had won bronze in the same event at the 2018 Asian Games.  

The result means that the Singapore swim team ended their Games campaign with one medal, a silver from Teong Tzen Wei in men’s 50m butterfly on Thursday.

At the last edition in 2018, the Singapore swim team returned home with six medals, including two golds from former Olympic champion Joseph Schooling.