NAYPYIDAW — Singapore may have won two golds, three silvers and three bronzes on the final day of the five-day swimming competition at the South-east Asian Games in Myanmar.

But the bounty was not enough to prevent the Republic from recording its poorest showing in three editions of the regional biennial meet.

Tonight’s medals took Singapore’s tally to 11-9-10, two fewer than the 32-medal haul (14-8-10) at the 2009 Games in Laos, and nine short of last year’s total of 39 (17-9-13).

All in, it was a bittersweet day for the Republic’s swimmers.

Amanda Lim won the women’s 50m freestyle for the third time, and set a new SEA Games record in the process, but Joseph Schooling missed out on his target of six golds and six SEA Games records, when he won the 200m butterfly but failed to set a new regional mark.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s swim queen Tao Li was surprisingly beaten in the 200m butterfly event, an event which she had never lost before, while 2011 SEA Games men’s 200m freestyle champion Danny Yeo could not defend his crown because of a back injury which forced him to withdraw.

Lim, 21, stamped her authority as South-east Asia’s fastest woman in the 50m freestyle when she splashed home in 25.69sec, 0.08sec faster than her SEA Games mark of 25.77secs set in 2011. Thailand’s Nuttanan Junkrajang and Jenjira Srisa Ard took silver and bronze in 25.80secs and 25.90secs respectively.

In the men’s 200m butterfly, Schooling was clearly a cut above the rest as he finished more than two seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. He touched home in 1min 59.46secs, ahead of teammate Quah Zheng Ren (2:01.65). But perhaps the lack of competition was a reason why Schooling still ended up three seconds slower than the 1:56.67 SEA Games mark he set at the 2011 Games.

And there was to be no sixth gold medal for the US-based teenager too. He and teammates Quah Zheng Wen, Christopher Cheong and Clement Lim took silver in the 4x100m medley relay, behind Indonesia.

Discus thrower James Wong was not the only behemoth dethroned at this SEA Games. Tao Li lost the women’s 200m butterfly event at the SEA Games for the first time as she finished third in a disappointing 2:14.51. The time was slower than her SEA Games record of 2:13.49 set at the 2009 Games, and her national record of 2:12.63.

Thai teenager Patarawadee Kittiya was her conquerer, winning in 2:13.83, while Singapore’s Quah Ting Wen was second with her 2:14.42 effort.

Singapore also won bronzes in the men’s 200m freestyle and women’s 400m individual medley through Quah Zheng Wen and Megan Lim respectively.