Ching Hwang Lim (born 6 March 1996) is a

sportsperson An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professional sports, professionals or amateur sports, amateurs. Most professional a ...

currently representing

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, who formerly represented

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, in

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

. He was born in

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

, Malaysia. He committed to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and holds a Malaysian record in swimming which was set in July 2016.

Personal life and family

Lim Ching Hwang was born and raised in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. He is one of two siblings and is of Overseas Chinese descent. Lim's early years of education were spent at a local primary school, SJK(C) Lick Hung.

Career and records

Lim achieved Malaysia's first-ever gold medal at the

2013 Asian Youth Games ) , Nations participating = 45 , Athletes participating = 2404 , Officially opened by = Liu Yandong , Events = 122 in 16 sports , Opening ceremony = August 16 , Closing ceremony = August 24 , Stadium ...

in the 200m freestyle event with a time of 1:50.81.

Controversy

On 9 February 2021, Lim Ching Hwang was given eight weeks in jail for defaulting on Singaporean National Service (NS). Lim was given Singapore permanent residency status under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme in March 2014, at the age of 18, and became subject to the requirements of the Enlistment Act. He received a registration notice in May 2014 asking him to register for NS. However, he had pursued university studies in the United States from September 2014 onwards. Lim registered for NS in May 2014 and applied for deferment and left the country in July 2014. He returned to Singapore in June 2018 after completing his studies and enlisted in NS in April 2019 and completed it in February 2021. Lim said he is "deeply regretful" of the actions he committed "as a boy", adding that he has "come back to face the consequences as a man".

References

Living people Malaysian male swimmers Sportspeople from Selangor 1996 births SEA Games medalists in swimming SEA Games silver medalists for Malaysia SEA Games bronze medalists for Malaysia Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games Singaporean National Service defaulters Swimmers at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics {{malaysia-swimming-bio-stub