Hii Puong Wei
Zachary Tan winning the Boys’ Group A (15-17 years old) 200m individual medley in a time of 2:15.34s. — Photo by Chai Chang Yu
KUCHING: Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) enjoyed an early edge in the 44th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship (SAG) at the Sarawak Aquatics Centre in Petra Jaya, when they captured 15 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze medals to top the medal tally on the first day of competition.
The Hii brothers shone for Kotas with Puong Wei winning two gold and two silver medals, Puong Hou taking one gold and one silver while Puong Jie outdid his elder brothers with three gold medals.
In second place are Kuching Amateur Swimming Association (Kasa) 2010 who won nine gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals. Sukma swimmer Zachary Tan delivered three gold medals, Vanessa Liew two gold while Zia Tan, Isaac Tan, Presley Phang and Sandra had one gold each.
The defending champions Sibu Amateur Swimming Association (Sasa), fielding only 29 swimmers this year, are third with seven gold, seven silver and 15 bronze medals.
Miri Amateur Swimming Association (Masa) finished fourth with four gold, four silver and three bronze medals while in fifth to seventh positions are Limbang Amateur Swimming Association (Lasa) with four gold, two silver and three bronze medals, Bintulu Amateur Swimming Association (Basa) with two gold, four silver and two bronze medals, and Invitational Swimmers could only manage one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
Only one new record was created yesterday by Patrick Lau Peng Hui of Sasa who won the Boys’ Group A (15-17 years old) 100m butterfly in 58.41s, thus chipping off 0.16s from the old record of 58.57s set by Roydon Ong (Kasa 2010) in 2013.
Forty-two events were competed yesterday and 58 more gold medals are up for grabs in today’s second day of competition.
More than 200 swimmers from seven teams are taking part in the three-day meet that serves as a platform to unearth new talents and a selection ground for talented swimmers to represent Sarawak at the 53rd Malaysia Invitational National Age Group Swimming Championship in Malacca from March 9-12.