Welson, Erika Qualify For World Swim Meet

Welson Sim competing in one of the events at the 58th Malaysian Open Swimming Championships in Kuala Lumpur.

Erika Kong celebrating her victory in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

KUCHING: Welson Sim Wee Seng and Erika Kong Chia Chia will represent Malaysia at the Fina World Championships in Kazan, Russia from July 24 to August 9.

The Bukit Jalil-based swimmers from Sarawak made the cut for the world meet when they beat the qualifying times at the 58th Malaysian Open Swimming Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Kuala Lumpur last week.

Welson splashed to three gold medals in the national championships in the men’s 100m freestyle (51.73s), 400m freestyle (3:53.91s) and his most impressive achievement – the 200m freestyle – in which he clocked 1:49.67s, which was only 0.45s off the national record of 1:49.67s set by fellow Sarawakian Daniel Bego in 2009.

As for Erika, she won the women’s 200 individual medley (2:20.80s) and 200m breaststroke (2:36.21s).

She was also second in the 50m breaststroke (32.47s) and 100m (1:12.19s), clocking times better than her personal bests.

Apart from the five gold medals, the nine-member Sarawak team also captured four silver and five bronze medals.

Angela Chieng Chui Fei, who had just joined the national squad beginning of this year, bagged the silver in the women’s 800m freestyle (9:09.10s) and the bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Vernon Lee Jeau Zhi delivered a silver medal in the men’s 1,500m freestyle with a time of 16:05.31s.

He finished third in the men’s 200m freestyle (1:52.62s) and 400m freestyle (4:01.31s).

Sarawak’s other bronze medals were contributed by Daniel Bego in the men’s 100m freestyle (52.08s) and 100m butterfly (55.53s).

State head coach Hii Hieng Chiong was satisfied with the team’s performance, saying that Welson and Erika had done very well in the meet.

“They have not only helped Sarawak win five gold medals but also booked their tickets to the world championships in Russia,” he said.

While those in the national squad have won medals, Hii said the international competition had provided good exposure for state swimmers like Nee Gui Ping, Alex Tiong, Tan Tyng and Leong Wan Ying.

“The state swimmers have managed to improve their personal bests and the best thing for Sarawak is that all swimmers except for Daniel Bego who competed at the meet are eligible for Sukma 2016,” he added.

He said sending them to compete in the Malaysian Open was part of the state’s preparations for Sukma XIX in Sarawak next year.


Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/04/02/welson-erika-qualify-for-world-swim-meet/#ixzz3W7Db1Ct0

Kotas Swimmers Shine At MSSM Championship

Hii Puong Wei

KUCHING: This year’s Sarawak Age Group best team Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) has yet another reason to celebrate.

At the recently concluded MSSM Swimming Championship at Darul Ehsan Aquatic Centre, Shah Alam, Kotas swimmers played an integral role in ensuring the success of the Sarawak team clinching second place behind reigning champions and host, Selangor.

Sarawak brought home 24 gold medals with Kotas swimmers contributing an impressive 18 gold medals. Most notable is the achievement of 12-year old Hii Puong Wei who won 10 individual gold medals, and a further two gold medals in relays.

Having undergone intensive training under coaches Li Guo Bin and Gary Lau, the SJK Chung Hwa Batu 4 1/2 student did the state and Kotas proud by winning all 12 events he entered.

Hii was also named the best boy swimmer for the Boys U12 category after scoring a massive 120 points.

Another outstanding swimmer at the meet was Kotas’ Tan Tyng who won the Best Girls U15 swimmer award with her impressive haul of six gold and two silver medals.

Other contributors from the Kotas team include Anson Go (one gold, three silvers, one bronze), Hii Puong Hou (one gold, one silver, one bronze) and Ayrton Lim (one silver and one bronze).

These swimmers have now set the goal of recording personal best times at the invitational National Age Group competition to be held at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil from April 24-26..

For Tan Tyng, Anson and Puong Hou, the prospect of donning national colours was an added impetus as the trio have also been shortlisted to represent Malaysia for the Asean Schools swimming competition due to be held in Brunei Darussalam in November this year.

According to Kotas president Yii Chee Sing, the association was very pleased with the impressive performance of its swimmers and their contribution to the Sarawak team.

“The development programme for this current batch of swimmers began four years ago and we are happy that the resources invested are now bearing fruit.”

Yii noted that Kotas swimmers systematically go through four stages of development under the tutelage of specialised coaches.

The core group of swimmers trains six to 13 sessions per week and are provided with weekly yoga sessions, mental preparation, motivation and nutrition input for competitions.

“Such a development programme requires continued financial support from various bodies ranging from the state and our corporate sponsors,” he said.

Yii was appreciative of the strong and continued support from MSNS acting director Lucas Kallang as well as the State Education Department.

He also attributed the current success of Kotas swimmers to the generous support of the team’s corporate sponsors – Cahya Mata Sarawak, Hock Seng Lee, Sarawak Energy, KKB Engineering, Timberland Properties, Naim Holdings, Conelli and Madwave.

Yii hopes that such strong partnership between the team and its corporate partners can be perpetuated for the development of the sport among youths in Kota Samarahan and Kuching.


Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/03/21/kotas-swimmers-shine-at-mssm-championship/#ixzz3WsdrMkbT