Asiad: No Need To Revamp National Swimming Team Coaching Lineup - MAS

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Aquatics (MAS) says there is no need to revamp the national swimming team coaching lineup despite the swimmers’ lacklustre performance in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan, which ended on Sunday (Oct 4).

MAS secretary-general Andy Low said the existing coaches, including head coach Michael Kinross, who was appointed in May, still managed to show positive developments although the national swimmers returned empty-handed from the quadrennial Games.

"No targets were set for the swimming team (at the 2026 Asiad), but at least one national record was broken.

"The coach we have currently has shown progress; he (American Kinross) only arrived five months ago. If we keep changing coaches, then even our swimmers will be confused, and that will jeopardise our plans,” he said.

Low said this after the national swimming squad’s post-Asiad 2026 evaluation meeting, which MAS president Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim also attended, here today.

The national swimming coaching lineup also comprises Denmark's Magnus Hojby Andersen and technical director Megan Oesting of the United States.

Meanwhile, Low said the meeting did not discuss whether to drop or retain the existing national swimmers.

At Asiad 2026, Khiew Hoe Yean, Arvin Shaun Singh Chahal, Lim Yin Chuen and Tan Khai Zin broke the national 4x200-metre (m) men's freestyle record when they clocked 7 minutes and 18.79 seconds (s) to finish fifth in the final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Sept 21.

That erased the old national mark of 7:19.50s, which they set at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand last December.

Malaysia last won an Asian Games swimming medal through Alex Lim Keng Liat, who clinched silver in the men's 100m backstroke at the 2022 edition in Busan, South Korea.

-- BERNAMA