Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Taiwanese swimmer Chu Chen-ping broke Taiwan's national record for the men's 100m butterfly at the Japan Open swim meet on Sunday with a time of 53.60 seconds.
Chu, a student at National Chung Hsing University, broke the record of 53.66 seconds set previously by Hsu Chih-chieh at the Asian Swimming Championships in 2009.
He had hoped to break the national record in previous domestic meets, but fell short at the President's Cup last year with a time of 53.96 seconds and again at the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games in Taipei earlier this month with a time of 53.78 seconds.
Despite setting the record, Chu was not excited about the achievement because it was only good enough to place him 18th in the preliminary heats, which left him well short of qualifying for the finals in the event.
Chu will participate in Taiwan's 2017 National Games 2017 from Oct. 21 to 26, and his eventual goal is to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The qualifying time standard to get into the men's 100m butterfly in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was 54.19 seconds.
