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Erika starts quest for Olympics qualifying
by Ting Tieng Hee. Posted on January 30, 2012, Monday
AIMING HIGH: Erika Kong competing in the women’s 400m IM during the 26th SEA Games at Jakabaring Swimming Pool in Palembang, in this Nov 13 file photo.
KUCHING: National swimmer Erika Kong will be involved in several swimming competitions this year in her quest to beat the qualifying time for the London Olympics.
For a start, the 16-year-old student of Lodge Secondary School, Kuching will be swimming in some peripheral events at the Sukma XV Time Trial Selection at Bukit Lima Swimming Complex in Sibu from Feb 10-12.
This will be followed by the Sarawak Age Group Championships at the same venue from Feb 25-26, after which she will represent Sarawak at the Malaysian Schools Sports Council National Swimming Championship in Sabah from Mar 13-17.
Erika will then swim in either two of the three events namely 200m IM, 400m IM and 200m breaststroke at the Sukma XV which is expected to be held in July in Kuantan, Pahang.
In mid-May, the Kuching lass will compete in the Malaysia Open Swimming Championship and will probably also go for the inaugural SEA Aquatics Championship in Singapore in May or June.
“I am quite confident that Erika can achieve the Group B qualifying time of 2:18.57s in the 200m IM because she is now doing about 2:20.08s, which is very near the mark,” said her father and personal coach Anthony Kong.
He has already applied for Erika to further her studies at a renowned high school in the United States which has produced many swimmers who have gone on to become world and Olympic champions.
“I strongly believe that for her to excel at a higher level, she needs to train in a different environment and we need to expand our scope,” said Kong.
He felt that Erika would not achieve anything great if she stays in Malaysia while in the US, the training system there has proven to be very successful and US would be the right direction for her.
Kong chose this American high school because many successful Malaysian swimmers were also sent there for training/studies and he noticed that Singapore’s SEA Games men’s 200m butterfly gold medallist Joseph Schooling also came from this school.
“Schooling was the only swimmer to have achieved the Group A qualifying time for the London Olympics at the recent SEA Games and I have been following his progress for quite some time,” he added.
“Erika is also willing to make sacrifices and is committed to take up the challenge to improve herself. Give her two years and we will see if she is good enough for a sports scholarship in the US.”
While in the US, Erika will swim for her high school and the NCAA Championship.
In her first competition this year, the Kuching Age Group Swimming Championship held at Waterpark swimming pool, Erika scooped 16 gold medals and broke her own record in the 50m breaststroke.
She was also named the best performer in the Girls Group One.
