MSSM AKUATIK

Monday, 23 March 2015

Divers To Drive Malaysia’s Golden Quest In SEA Games Aquatics

National diver Loh Zhiayi in action at the Incheon Asian Games in South Korea last year. - Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: Unlucky or not, 13 is the magical number of gold medals that Malaysia hope to bag in aquatics at the Singapore SEA Games in June.

The bulk of it should come from diving, which aims to secure a clean sweep of all eight gold medals at stake for the second straight SEA Games.

But it will still be a daunting task due to the different line-ups in place.

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) have finalised their entries for diving, with untested youngsters Mohd Syafiq and Adeline Chin likely to partner Ahmad Amsyar and Wendy Ng in the men’s and women’s 3m springboard synchro events respectively.

Asum will also be taking a gamble in the women’s 10m plaftorm synchro with Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri reunited.

Nanjing Youth Olympics silver medallist Loh Zhiayi will be the main hope for gold in the absence of Pandelela from her pet 10m platform individual event together with veteran Leong Mun Yee.

Synchronised swimming, which was last held in Palembang in 2011, will make a return but Malaysia can only hope to win one of the three gold medals at stake this time.

Katrina Ann and Lee Yhing Huey are likely to be paired by China coach Long Yan to help contribute gold for Malaysia in the duet technical and free routine combined event.

While diving is expected to do its part, a big question lies over swimming.

Malaysian swimmers delivered four gold medals in Myanmar two years ago, with a double from Christina Loh in women’s 100m and 200m breaststroke while Daniel Lim and Khoo Cai Lin won the men’s and women’s 400m freestyle respectively.

The swimming list for SEA Games will only be finalised after the Malaysian Open at Bukit Jalil, starting on Thursday.

Asum acting secretary Mae Chen said that the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) wanted to gauge the current form of the swimmers before deciding on the final entries.

Saturday, 21 March 2015

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