SINGAPORE — It was a historic day for Singapore swimming at the 28th SEA Games yesterday as Tao Li won the country’s 50th gold medal — the target set for this edition of that Games — before her compatriot Quah Zheng Wen surpassed it with the 51st gold.

Tao Li, 25, won the women’s 100m backstroke with a time of 1:02.67 min, with Indonesia’s Kania Ratih taking silver (1:04.38) and the Philippines’ Ashley Yu came in third (1:04.80).

Quah, 18, won the men’s 400m individual medley in 4:23.50, with national team-mate Pang Sheng Jun in second (4:24.81) and Vietnam’s Tran Duy Khoi in third (4:26.29).

Singapore swimming star Joseph Schooling also made it six gold medals in six events yesterday as he splashed to a new SEA Games record of 52.13 in the men’s 100m butterfly, bettering his old mark of 52.67 set in the last edition of the Games in Myanmar.

Schooling later partnered Quah, Clement Lim and Danny Yeo to win the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay in a Games record mark of 3:19.59.

“The 100m fly was kind of slower than I expected, but I went out in 23.93 (in the 50m split time) and that is my fastest so far, so I just got to get more rest. It was my fifth and sixth events today in three days and that is a lot,” said Schooling. “I am more worried about World Championships (August) right now, so hopefully I can win both my events tomorrow and finish off that relay.”

Quah’s elder sister, Ting Wen, 22, however, was dealt a setback yesterday in her SEA Games campaign as she failed to qualify for the women’s 200m freestyle, coming in ninth in the heats (2:09.35).

“To be honest, I was very disappointed this morning after failing to qualify. It was very unexpected, and it was a huge miscalculation on my part with very grave consequences. I am so sorry to disappoint anyone, but most of all myself.”

Ting Wen did, however, make up for the setback by winning silver in the 200m butterfly, coming in behind Vietnam’s swimming sensation Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, who had bounced back from her gold-less run on Monday by emerging top in two of her events last night at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.

The 17-year-old has been creating waves at the SEA Games, having bagged her fifth and sixth gold medals yesterday. Nguyen — the holder of 14 out of 17 Vietnamese national swimming records — won the women’s 200m butterfly with a time of 2:11.12, rewriting the Games record of 2:13.49 set by Tao Li at the 2009 Games. Thailand’s Sutasinee Pankaew bagged bronze (2:14.51).

Nguyen then followed up on that feat by winning the 200m freestyle in a time of 1:59.27, again smashing a record, this time the one set by Quah (2:00.57) in 2009. Thailand’s Natthanan Junkrajung took silver in 2:00.54 while the Philippines’ Jasmine Alkhaldi was third (2:00.84).

Nguyen has been entered for 13 events at the Games, but she had pulled out of the women’s 100m backstroke yesterday, citing fatigue.

“I withdrew from the 100m backstroke because I want to beat Ting Wen, especially in the 200m free,” she said. “I had a really bad day yesterday, with no gold medals, and I want to bounce back and make sure I win today. I do feel a little tired sometimes, but I just swim, eat and sleep. I don’t think I will ever stop.”

“Whenever she wins an event, we immediately treat it as she has never won anything. But whenever she loses, we remember it, and want to fight back and win again. That is the sort of mentality my swimmer has,” said Vietnamese head coach Dang Anh Tuan.