Daniel Bego

KUALA LUMPUR: National swimmer, Daniel Bego hopes his long-time injury would not be a burden for him anymore.

At this year’s Malaysian Open Swimming Championships held at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil, the 22-year-old Sarawakian ended his campaign with one gold and four silver medals.

“It was not too bad. All my times were the fastest since I came back for training. I’m really happy with my performance and those are positive things  for me but I still have a lot of work to do,” said Bego.

Bego who has been missing from the pool after undergoing surgery to correct a long standing bone spur problem on both shoulders in April, 2011, started training last December after undergoing rehabilitation for a couple of months and was happy to be back in training after the long lay-off.

“The pain on my shoulder come and go, especially on the right shoulder. The left shoulder is recovering well. If it come (the pain), I have to rest for  about two days to recover but it is not a problem. I am still undergoing rehab,” he said.

The Miri-born swimmer has qualified for the men’s 200m freestyle event at the Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain this July after managing to better his qualifying time at this year’s Malaysia Open in the event with a time of 1:51.46s and beat the Category B qualifying mark of 1:52.21s.

Last month, he had qualified for the World Championships during the Singapore National Age-group Swimming Championships with a time of 1:52.04s. — Bernama

HISTORY: Michael Phelps of the United States dives in at the start of the 200 meter Individual Medley semifinal during the XI FINA World Championships at the Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in this file photo. — AFP photo

LOS ANGELES: Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps has thrown cold water on a report that he would come out of retirement with a view to swimming at the 2016 Rio Games.“Why do I keep getting texts about coming back?” Phelps said on Twitter Friday night after a Florida television station reported he planned to return to the pool.

Peter Busch of an NBC station in Fort Myers, Florida, reported on Friday that Phelps “had a change of heart” and would be training for the 2016 Games.

Busch’s father, Frank Busch, is the director of the US national swim team. Still, Phelps downplayed the suggestion.

“Do people really believe everything they hear or read? There are too many people in the world that think they have a ‘story,’” he tweeted.

As recently as March, Phelps ruled out a return, saying in Rio while attending the Laureus Sports Awards that he wouldn’t compete again.

“I’m done, I’m done,” Phelps said on March 11.

Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals, retired from swimming after bagging four golds and two silvers at last year’s London Games.

He finished his Olympic career with an astonishing 18 gold medals, including his unprecedented eight at the 2008 Beijing Games. — AFP

Seven men and five women athletes were listed as candidates for the two awards at the presentation ceremony which will be held at Dewan Agong Tunku Canselor Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam on June 1.

Deputy chairman of Masum 1, Prof Dr Anuar Hassan in a media conference in conjunction with 2012 Masum Sports Awards here today said the criteria for candidate selection included atheletes having represented the country or achieved success or obtained medals at international level.

“The shortlisted candidates are not only screened based on sports achievements but also from academic and leadership aspects,” said the deputy vice-chancellor for Student Affairs and Alumni of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.

On not listing Pandelela Rinong, Prof Dr Anuar said the matter was discussed at length in its selection meeting yesterday.

“We are proud of the achievement of Pandelela at the London Olympic Games last year. However, she was registered as a Universiti Malaya student in September while she won the Olympic medal in August and as such we could not include her,” he said.

Apart from the two main awards, there are 12 other categories of awards including the best teams (men and women), promising talent (men and women), best manager, best coach, sports personality, appreciation award, special award, sports partner award as well as the best university athletes (men and women).

A total of seventy five nominations were received from 20 public institutions of higher learning for the 2012 Masum Sports Awards.— Bernama

STANDING TALL: Coach Mandu (right) with some of Masa’s swimmers taking part in the 21st Brunei Age-Group Swimming Championship.

MIRI: The Miri Division Amateur Swimming Association (Masa) did Sarawak proud when they emerged champion in the 21st Brunei Age-Group Swimming Championship from April 26 to 28.

The team collected the most number of gold medals and medals – 38 gold, 30 silver and 10 bronze – 14 more gold medals than next rival, ISB Swimming Club, Brunei.

Two Sarawak swimmers and another swimmer from Masa were also among the 10 recipients of the Best Swimmer Award.

The two state swimmers, Alister Lee and Leong Wan Yin, took home 11 gold and five gold medals respectively. Miri’s Chin Xue Kang collected four gold medals.

“This is the best achievement so far and all our 22 swimmers did their best after training diligently under coach Mandu. Last year we didn’t take part,” said the Masa spokesperson to thesundaypost yesterday.

The Masa team was led by William Lee as team manager and Mandu Nyungkan as team coach.

Another team from Miri, Miri Swimming Academy, grabbed a total of 16 medals (10 gold, two silver and four bronze).

A total of 215 swimmers from twelve swim clubs in Brunei and Miri took part in the three-day championship held at the National Swimming Pool of Hassanal Bolkiah National Sport Complex.

They competed in 139 individual and six relay events.

The championship was organised by Brunei Amateur Swimming Association in collaboration with the Department of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and the Department of Co-Curricular Education, Department of Schools, Ministry of Education.

The London Games silver medallist, who produced the year’s fastest time to win the men’s 100-metres freestyle at Australia’s world championship trials on Tuesday, has had a torrid time since the Olympics last year.

He was among six Australian swimmers who were fined and handed deferred suspensions last month after admitting taking banned sleeping pills and playing pranks at a pre-London Olympics training camp.

The 22-year-old, whose 47.53sec at the trials eclipsed Russia’s Vladimir Morozov (47.93) as the best this year, said he was hugely relieved to have qualified for the Barcelona world championships.

“I have been a bit dodgy with my sleeping because I felt that swim last night was the pinnacle of nine months of build-up,” he told reporters.

“I feel really relaxed today having got the monkey off my back.”

Nicknamed “The Missile”, Magnussen has insisted reports of widespread cultural breakdown in Australia’s swim team in London were off the mark, but admitted he was a changed man since the scandal blew up.

“I started to believe my own press a bit, started to think I was The Missile rather than just myself,” he said.

“I am trying to be relaxed and humble, not beating my chest trying to be the alpha male of the team.

“It was actually harder for me to put on that act (before London) than being myself,” he added.

“So I feel really comfortable with how I am conducting myself around the pool and my teammates – hopefully people are taking note of that.”

Magnussen is looking for redemption at this year’s worlds after missing out on the Olympic 100m freestyle title by just one-hundredth of a second behind American Nathan Adrian.

He admitted he was devastated.

“While this world championship is really important to me and I’m defending my world title, I want to be an Olympic gold medallist,” he said. — AFP

Pandelela who was last week crowned National Sportswoman for 2012 only accumulated 330.10 points in the third round of the World Diving Series.

The gold medal was won by China’s Si Yajie (405.60 pts) while the silver went to another Chinese diver Liu Huxia (374.40) and Alejandra Crozco from Mexico took the bronze with 367.45 points.

On Friday, Pandelela had partnered Leong Mun Yee to win a silver medal in the 10m Platform Synchronized diving in the same championships. — Bernama

Swimming, the best-funded of Australian sports saw its 2013-14 allocation from the ASC reduced by 5.8 percent to A$8,165,000 (US$8,389,000).

Athletics Australia’s high-performance funding was cut by 3.8 per cent to A$6,570,000 for the same period.

Swimming Australia was told by the ASC that it needed to reduce overheads and “to demonstrate effective leadership and governance of the sport”.

Wholesale reforms are taking place in swimming with the appointment of two new bosses to Swimming Australia and new programmes to boost high performance, team-building and address psychological issues for athletes.

Leigh Nugent also recently resigned as head coach of the national team.

The funding cut follows a lacklustre showing at last year’s London Olympics by the once-dominant swimming team, which delivered its lowest tally in the pool since Barcelona 1992 – one gold, six silver and three bronze.

It was also Australian swimming’s first Games without an individual gold medal since the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Two inquiries commissioned after the disappointing performance found the squad lacked leadership and that “toxic” incidents such as drunkenness and bullying had gone unchecked.

The ASC said it was aiming for a top-five finish at the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, top 15 at the 2014 Winter Olympics, first place on the medals table at next year’s Commonwealth Games and 20 or more world champions per year.

ASC chairman John Wylie said the funding allocations reflected the plan to move Australian sport from “world class to world best”.

“Our investment decisions were based on a set of principles that assessed sports’ ability to provide sound evidence that they can contribute to the targets,” Wylie said.

“We have also asked that sports be more accountable for best practice governance and commercial performance.”

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates supported the moves.

“Sports are now more accountable and they are not only judged on performance but governance,” he said in a statement.

Football Federation Australia had their allocation cut by 15 percent, but sailing received a 16.7 per cent increase to A$6.3 million on the back of three gold medals at the London Olympics.

Other sports to get a funding lift were canoeing, rowing, rugby sevens and golf. Rugby sevens and golf will be added to the Olympic programme for the 2016 Games in Rio. — AFP

QUALIFIED: Sarawak’s swimming sensation Welson Sim with six other national junior swimmers qualified for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

KUALA LUMPUR: Seven national junior swimmers qualified for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games at the 49th National Age Group Swimming Championship at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil here on Friday.

The swimmers who booked their berths to the Games were Wong Fu Kang, Nadia Adrianna Redza, Lim Ching Hwang, Welson Sim, Alwyn Tan, Yap Siew Hui and Asmalia Filzati Redzuan.

Six swimmers from Hong Kong who competed in the Malaysian Invitational Age Group category also made it to the Youth Olympics, which will be held in Nanjing, China.

On the first day of competition, Hong Kong displayed their power to collect 14 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medals in the championship.

The three-day championship concluding on April 21, is divided into two categories, Malaysia Invitional Age Group and Malaysia Closed Age Group.

Besides Hong Kong who have sent 48 swimmers, India have sent a team of nine swimmers for the invitational meet.

In second place were Selangor who raked in eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze.

Selangor’s first gold medal was delivered by Nadia Adrianna Redza in 2 minutes 39.81 seconds in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

The state’s second gold was contributed by Yeap Zheng Yang in the boy’s 100m freestyle (13-14 age group) with a time of 53.59s.

Lim Ching Hwang set a new record with a time of 51.04s in the boys 100m freestyle (15-17 age group) when he broke the previous record of 51.89s set by Foo Jian Beng. — Bernama

STAR TO WATCH: Butterfly specialist Nee Gui Ping.

SIBU: The Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak (ASAS) is sending a 26-strong contingent for the 49th Milo-PRAM Malaysian International Invitational Age-group Swimming Championship to be held at Bukit Jalil Aquatic Centre, April 19 to 21.

Spearheaded by national swimmers Daniel Bego and Hii Siew Siew, the team comprises nine swimmers from Sibu Amateur Swimming Association (SASA), 11 swimmers from Kota Samarahan Swimming Association (KOTAS), four from Kuching Amateur Swimming Association (KASA) and two from Miri Amateur Swimming Association (MASA).

Top state swimmers in the squad include Welsom Sim, Roydon Ong, Nee Gui Ping, Erika Kong, Angela Chieng and Vernon Lee.

The team will leave for Kuala Lumpur on April 18.

ASAS secretary Oliver Kuo told a press conference yesterday that the swimmers were expected to face a grueling battle against some of the top swimmers from Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Taiwan and several other Asian countries.

“This is a big battle and a great challenge to our swimmers. Hopefully, our swimmers will be able to bring back medals and glory to the state,” he said.

Kuo said the swimmers would use the championship as a platform to compete for the qualifying time trial for the World Championship to be held in Barcelona in September.

“The standard is very high and that is why it is going to be an intriguing battle for our swimmers to dig deep and showcase the best of their abilities,” he added.

Hong Kong, in particular, will be sending a full team to participate in the championship.

Kuo expected Daniel and Siew Siew to feature prominently at the championship.

“As for the rest of the squad, it will be nice if they can bring back medals of any colour,” he added.

The championship is divided into five categories – boys’ and girls’ 10 years old and below, 11-12, 13-14, 15-17 and the 18 & above category.

PROUD MOMENT: (From right) Gavril and Gregory, with assistant coach Allister, showing the medals they won at the recent MSSM Swimming Championship.

MIRI: Two brothers from the Gymkhana Club (GCM) contributed 1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals for Sarawak in the recent Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) swimming championship at Shah Alam.

Gavril Ang took the gold medal in the 4x100m free style relay while his younger brother Gregory won a silver in the 4x100m medley relay and two bronze medals in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle.

“This is the best achievement so far achieved by GCM in the MSSM despite our swimming team being very young compared to other established swimming associations,” said GCM coach David Chung to The Borneo Post yesterday.

The two swimmers were accompanied by GCM assistant coach Allister Chung.

The GCM swimming team was formed in 2008.

Currently, 25 swimmers are training under David from Tuesday to Sunday.

“We are also conducting ‘Learn to Swim” classes at weekends for children aged 6 years and above,” David added.

He also invited parents whose children are interested in joining the class to contact him at 012-8773331 or GCM club at 085-434655.

another term: Wee (seated second left), with (from left, seated) Alexander, Kong, Wong and the rest of the office-bearers.

KUCHING: Kuching Amateur Swimming Association (Kasa) 2010 are looking forward to working very closely with the Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak (Asas) and the Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) to continue producing champion swimmers for the state.

Kasa 2010 president Dato Wee Hong Seng, who was returned unopposed as the association head for another term (2013-2014) last Sunday, spoke with pride about Kasa 2010’s training centre been identified by Asas and MSNS as one of the centres for the state’s elite training programme.

“We are also glad to be affiliated back to Asas and it is our ultimate aim to streamline our swimming activities to fall in line with Asas’ vision and seek support and backing from MSNS,” he said.

Wee was also happy to see that in the past two years, the membership had swelled to 80 and there are now 53 swimmers currently training under coaches Anthony Kong, Joel Voon, Nadia Kho and Kho Fu Sheng.

Two years ago, Kasa 2010 had only 16 members and 23 swimmers.

The association had also moved its training centre from Stampark, BDC to the Aquatics Centre at Youth and Sports Complex which provides an all-weather and conducive training environment for the young swimmers.

“This is an exciting time for us, we have not only doubled our swimmers for training but also have some very young and promising up and coming swimmers especially in the younger age group,” Wee noted.

He said Kasa 2010 swimmers such as Erika Kong and Roydon Ong had consistently contributed gold medals to the Sarawak team at the last three Sukma and the national Paralympic swimming championship.

“They have also contributed medals to the national team at international competitions.”

“Our swimmers have also dominated in various age group swimming at division, state and national level,” said Wee, attributing all the success and achievements to the strong support from private companies, parents, voluntary and part-time coaches, committed committee members and swimmers.

Meanwhile, Dr Alexander Likom Giap was elected as the deputy president during the Annual General Meeting and Andrew Wong retained his post as the vice president.

Anthony Kong is the association advisor while also re-elected as secretary and treasurer were Sylvia Lau and Robert Ong respectively.

The line-up of committee members saw new faces in Belinda Cheong, Lynn Bong and Mervin Kuek, while Lawrence Chen and Albert Voon were elected to serve for another term.

CHAMPIONS SWIMMERS: Sarawak finished second overall at the recent MSSM swimming championships in Shah Alam with 76 medals in total. KOTAS was proud to field a record 11 of the 31 swimmers representing Sarawak and contributed to 23 of the total medals won in the event.

KUCHING: Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) was a major contributor to Sarawak’s 67-medal haul at the recent Malaysia Schools Sports Council (MSSM) Swimming Championships held at Shah Alam, Selangor.

Sarawak which lost the services of several national swim stars due to the age limit however managed to finish second placing behind newly crowned champion, Selangor.

Selangor bagged 37 gold, 36 silvers and 14 bronzes while Sarawak took home 21 gold, 21 silver and 23 bronze medals at the national schools meet held from Mar 23-29.

Represented by only 31 swimmers, of whom 11 hailed from Kotas, the state team bravely defeated the much larger teams from Sabah and Kuala Lumpur, which finished third and fourth place respectively.

Kotas’ swim star, Welson Sim stole the limelight of the championship after he single handedly broke a staggering five national records en route to bagging a total seven gold medals.

He was a runaway winner of the event’s overall Best Boy swimmer and also took out the Best Boy award in the 16-18 years division despite only turning 16 years of age on the last day of the keenly contested championship.

Indeed Welson celebrated his birthday in style by starting the session with a record-breaking swim in the 400m freestyle and then anchoring Sarawak to victory in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

Sarawak supporters in the stands promptly broke into a rousing version of “Happy Birthday” as the modest star grinned.

He had recently begun training with the national squad together with fellow Kotas teammate Vernon Lee.

Another Kotas’ star, 16-year-old Angela Chieng also made a sterling contribution to Sarawak in the 16-18 years category and outshone older competitors.

She took home five gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

Other Kotas’ swimmers who bagged medals were namely Tan Choon Hoe, Anson Go, Deborah Lee Ann, Sarah-Ann Thorpe, Tan Tyng, Ryan Yii, Ryan Chang, and Hii Puong Wei.

Kotas’ swimmers were accompanied by head coach Li Guo Bin alongside with the rest of the coaching team who include a coach from China and local coaches Gary Lau, Aaron Chua and Steven Law.

Kotas has recently taken in an additional ten young swimmers who were identified after an extensive one-month talent search. Despite being the newest of the state swimming association affiliates, Kotas is continuing to strive to develop swimmers from the grass- roots level and help to re-build Sarawak’s standing as an aquatic sports powerhouse.

Bryan Nickson Lomas

Kuching: National diver and three-time Olympian Bryan Nickson Lomas is not disheartened after being dropped from national squad scheduled to compete in the coming 27th World University Summer Games in Kazan, Tatarstan.

The 23-year-old Sarawakian told The Borneo Post yesterday that it was only fair for the selection committee to exclude him.

“I have not been training with the rest of the national squad since February because of my studies…it will be very difficult for me to catch up with them. Their chances of winning medals are better off without me,” he said in a telephone interview.

“The past few months had been difficult for me because there were so many remedial classes to attend but I am happy to enter the final part of my second semester studies,” added Bryan who started his six-month study leave beginning January this year.

He hopes to do well in the coming June examination so that he can proceed to the final semester of his first year studies at Universiti Malaya (UM).

Even though Bryan had enrolled for the sports science undergraduate course three years ago, he had skipped classes so often because of training commitments and competing overseas.

Initially his name was still shortlisted for the Universiade-bound squad but the Malaysian Universities Sports Council (MASUM) then decided to drop him to make way for national junior divers to gain exposure.

Bryan who has been with the national squad for over 12 years has no qualms for not being selected this time round because completing his tertiary studies is now his top priority.

Bryan Nickson Lomas

KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s singles World number one shuttler Datuk Lee Chong Wei and diving queen Pandelela Rinong are the frontrunners for the 2012 National Sportsman and Sportswoman awards.

Youth and Sports Ministry’s chief secretary Datuk Mohid Mohamed said Chong Wei and Pandelela, winners of the 2011 awards in their respective category, were among seven nominees short listed by the Selection Committee for the awards.

He said six others nominated for the Sportsman award were Sazali Abdul Samad Weightlifting); Muhammad Syafiq Ridhwan Abdul Malek (tenpin bowling); Leong Tze Wai (karate); Khairul Anuar Muhamad (archery); Yu Peng Kean (fencing) and Bryan Nickson Lomas (diving).

Pandelela will face women’s world number one squash player Datuk Nicol David; Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi (shooting); Esther Cheah (tenpin bowling); Chai Fong Ying (wushu); Fatehah Mustapa (cycling) and Quzandria Nur Muhamad Fathil (equestrian).

“Choosing the winner in both categories is going to be a mammoth task as 14 athletes have been short listed and they have all achieved success in their own sports,” he told reporters after chairing a Selection Committee meeting for the awards yesterday.

The Selection Committee comprised representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Sports Council, Olympic Council of Malaysia, Sportswriters Association of Malaysia and media.

Winners in the Sportsman and Sportswoman category will take home RM20,000 each during the awards night that will be held at a leading hotel in Subang Jaya on April 16. — Bernama

Across the four age-groups, three of KOTAS’s girls were declared best swimmers of the meet.

They were Rachel Chang (Group D or Under10 years), Tan Tyng (Group C – U12) and Angela Chieng (Group A – U17).

For Rachel, it was her first ever best girl trophy and came on the back of her 6 gold and 2 silver medal haul.

Tan Tyng marked her arrival as a rising talent in the pool when she dominated her age group with an incredible 13 gold medals.

She also set a new state record in the 800m freestyle when her time of 10.08.15 eclipsed team mate Tan Zhen Xuan’s 2012 mark of 10.58.27.

Meanwhile, her experienced teammate and SUKMA swimmer, Angela Chieng added to her accolades with new Sarawak records in two events: the 400m individual medley where she clocked 5.10.36 and the 800m freestyle where her time was 9.25.42.

Despite swimming against older competitors in Group A, 15 year-old Angela captured 11 gold and 3 silver medals.

Other gold medals achieved by KOTAS came from Hii Puong Wei (3), Tan Choon Hoe (2) and Anson Go (1).

Despite being the newest of the Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak (ASAS) affiliates, KOTAS was placed second to the host team, Sibu Amateur Swimming Association (SASA).

KOTAS bagged a total of 38 gold, 30 silver and 23 bronze medals at the state’s premier annual meet.

“I am very proud of the results, but more importantly, the team spirit shown by KOTAS swimmers, their parents and our coaches” said KOTAS president Yii Chee Sing.

“The fact that they all supported one another enabled them to race at their very best and made all the hard training worthwhile,” he added.

“Second placing overall and three best swimmer trophies is a very commendable performance given the relative inexperience of many of our swimmers and the fact that our top boys, national swimmers Welson Sim and Vernon Lee, did not participate as they are now continuing their swimming programme as students of Bukit Jalil Sports School,” he added.

“We still have very few swimmers in the older age divisions, while for many of our younger swimmers, this was their first state championships.

“The whole team acquitted themselves very well and most swimmers recorded personal best times which was our main aim,” said Yii.

“This is also testament to KOTAS’s excellent coaching programme,’” he said.

KOTAS’ dedicated coaching team comprises experienced head coach Li Guo Bin from China and local coaches Gary Lau, Aaron Chua and Steven Law.

KOTAS swimmers currently train at Kelab Golf Sarawak Monday to Saturday.

Following their performances at the state meet, 9 KOTAS swimmers have been selected to represent Sarawak at the upcoming national-level MSSM (Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia) swimming championships to be held at Shah Alam from 25-29 March 2013.

This represents the biggest number of KOTAS swimmers ever sent to MSSM.

They are Angela Chieng, Tan Choon Hoe, Anson Go, Tan Tyng, Ryan Chang, Ryan Yii, Rachel Chang, Hii Puong Wei and Deborah Lee Ann.

Meanwhile, 7 Kotas swimmers will be heading to Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur next month for the National Age Group Swimming Championships.

They are Angela Chieng, Tan Choon Hoe, Anson Go, Hii Puong Hou, Tan Tyng, Rachel Chang and Hii Puong Wei.

“It is exciting to see the progress of KOTAS swimmers and we are very proud that they will represent the state and help continue Sarawak’s renowned reputation in the pool,” said Yii.

FRUITFUL OUTING: Kasa 2010 swimmers, coached by Anthony Kong (left), captured 24 gold, 34 silver and 33 bronze medals at the 40th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship in Sibu last week.

KUCHING: The Kuching Amateur Swimming Association (Kasa) 2010 team had a fruitful outing at the 40th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship in Sibu last week when they won 24 gold, 34 silver and 33 bronze medals.

Star performer Roydon Ong
broke two meet records while Adrian Chua created one new record in the three-day competition held at Bukit Lima Swimming pool.

“The swimmers especially Sukma swimmers have performed up to expectations and we have proven that we are still a force to be reckoned with in the Sarawak swimming arena,” said Kasa 2010 head coach Anthony Kong.

He was also pleased to see that the younger swimmers especially those in Group C and D were doing well in the inter-division event.

Kong, who is also Kasa 2010 advisor, said the association had fielded 42 swimmers including six for the Open category and that their overall performance was satisfactory.

“The Open categories for men and women are two new events that the Sarawak Amateur Swimming Association have introduced to the age group championship and I think this is a very good move because the age limit for Sukma is Under-21.”

“This will allow those who have left secondary school to continue with competitive swimming,” he said.

Meanwhile, Roydon bagged five golds, three silvers and one bronze in the Boys A competition.

The 17-year-old swimmer who represented Sarawak at Sukma XV last year shattered the 25-year record held by Wong Ik Hui of Sibu Amateur Swimming Association in the Boys A 100m butterfly by clocking 58.66s against the old time of 58.57s set in 1988.

Roydon’s other new record was in the Boys A 100m freestyle where he registered 54.06s to beat the old time of 54.16s set by Daniel Bego in 2005.

His other gold medals were won in the 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 200m freestyle.

Adrian Chua Wei Kiat was also impressive with his collection of eight golds and four silvers in Boys Group D.

He broke the 00m freestyle record of 01:04.95s set by Ling Yee Yeh of Sibu Amateur Swimming Association in 2006 by clocking a new time of 01:04.32s.

Other major gold medals contributors for Kasa 2010 were Zoe Tan with 4 gold and Cariane Chua with 2.

CONGRATULATIONS: Wong (left) giving away the Best Boys ‘C’ award to Gui Ping. Looking on from left are Ngieng, Kuo and Tiong.

“We can see that the our swimmers are doing very well and, hopefully, the money can be used by SASA to reward the outstanding swimmers to spur them to train even harder,” he said at the closing of the 40th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship at Bukit Lima Swimming Pool.

Wong, however, reminded the swimmers that monetary reward was not everything.

“What is important is the honour to win medals,” he added.

He said nothing could be accomplished if the swimmers did not put in effort to improve themselves.

“So you really have to work hard to attain success and when you have reached that stage, you will eventually become champions,” he said, adding that there was no shortcut to success.

However, in their pursuit for sports glory, Wong reminded the swimmers not to neglect their academic studies.

Swimming, Wong reiterated, is a healthy sport which is good in developing the mind and shaping a person’s character.

“A healthy body comes with a healthy mind,” he said, adding that the losers should never feel down as there was a chance for them to come back.

“You might be the losers for this year and become winners the next year and so competition just goes round and round and that is how we improve.”

Among those at the closing ceremony were SASA chairman Daniel Ngieng, treasurer Oliver Kuo and SMC chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King.

Sibu swimmers, who established a new time in the Boy’s 4X100m Individual Medley relay yesterday, helped bring the final records tally for the three-day championship to 15.

Alex capped another fine day with his record in the 50m backstroke when he clocked a time of 29.28” to rewrite his old time of 29.32” set last year.

“I’m feeling better today after taking medication for my flu. Still, I believe I can go the distance if given the push,” said the 17-year Pahang Sukma gold medallist on the lack of challengers in the category.

Alex’s other records were in the 200m backstroke (2:16.63”), 100m backstroke (1:02.53”) and his pet event the 400m Individual Medley (4:56.94”).

For the championship, he secured eight gold and seven silver medals to capture the title of the Best Boys ‘A’ swimmer.

Fast rising star Gui Ping was also in his element as he smashed the record in the 50m butterfly with a 27.60” to eclipse the old time of 28.75” set by Daniel Bego in 2002.

“It was a good swim and I expected myself to break the record the moment I jumped into the pool. The record had stood for 11 years and I am so happy to finally break it.”

Gui Ping said he would continue to train hard to ensure that he would excel in swimming which was his favourite hobby.

“Next year, I will be promoted to Boy’s B and, hopefully, I can go on breaking records after records.”

Gui Ping’s two other records were in the 200m butterfly (2:20.64”) and 100m butterfly (1:02.16”). He was adjudged the Best Boys ‘C’ performer after collecting 13 gold, one silver and two bronze medals out of the 16 events he competed.

SASA’s Ngu Jiung Wei won the title of Best Swimmer in the Boys ‘C’ category with nine gold and seven silver while former national swimmer Die Ung Manggang was the best performer in the Men’s Open category with nine gold and three silver. The Best Boys ‘D’ performer was Adrian Chua Wei Kiat from Kuching.

In the Girl’s competition, Angela Chieng from Kota Samarahan was adjudged best swimmer in Girl’s `A’ after breaking two records and collecting 11 gold and four silver.

The titles of Best Swimmer for Girl’s ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ was claimed by Sibu’s Cindy Sui with 10 gold, five silver and one bronze, Tan Tyng from Kota Samarahan with 13 gold and breaking one record, and Rachel Chang from Kota Samarahan with six gold and two silver, respectively.

RECORD BREAKER: Sibu’s upcoming swimmer, Nee Gui Ping gasped for air after clocking a record time of 2:20.64” in Boys’ C 200m Butterfly yesterday.

SIBU: Sibu swimming stars, Alex Tiong Sie Hung and Nee Gui Ping stole the limelight of the second day of the Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship after they smashed five out of eight records at Bukit Lima Swimming Pool yesterday.

Pahang Sukma gold medallist Alex, who was down with flu, was satisfied with the three records he set in the Boys’ A 200m backstroke with a new time of 2:16.63”, 100m backstroke (1:02.53”) and in the 400m Individual medley (4:56.94”).

Alex was literally swimming with a bleeding nose due to the medicine which he took earlier and he refused to rest despite being told to do so.

The 19-year-old student from SMK Sacred Heart put up a brave front and went on to rewrite the three records apart from bagging a handful of gold medals in other various events he competed.

Gui Ping, the upcoming swimming star broke two records in the Boys’ C 100m Butterfly and 200m Butterfly with a new time of 1:02.16” and 2:20.64” respectively.

Both records belonged to national swimming sensation Daniel Bego which were set in 2002.

Gui Ping was competing in all the 18 events including two relays but he admitted that it was tough this time round.

“There are lots of good swimmers and its real tiring…hopefully, I will be able to break more records in the final day of the competition,” he added.

Sibu Amateur Swimming Association (SASA) chief coach Hii Hieng Chiong said the two swimmers were so far the best SASA had produced in recent years.

“We believe the duo can go far and tomorrow, they are expected to grab more gold in their pet 50m backstroke. Let’s wait and see,’ he said..

The other records of the day were set by Miri’s Tang Chong Heng in 50m breaststroke (30.53”) and Chieng in Girl’s A 400 Individual medley (5:10.46”) and Kuching’s Roydon Ong in Boy’s A 100m Butterfly (58.57’).

Pandelela Rinong

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia have set a modest one gold medal target in diving at the World University Games (Universiade) scheduled in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia from July 6 to 17.

Diving team manager Ariffin Mohamed Yusof expressed confidence that the target can be met, based on the fine performance by the country’s divers at the 2011 edition in Shenzen, China.

“We have lined up seasoned divers like Bryan Nickson Lomas, Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jung Hoong and a number of others to ensure the target was met,” he told reporters after attending a meeting with the National Sports Council (NSC) on Wednesday.

He added that national divers, including those in the list to Russia, were currently undergoing intensive training in China.

In Shenzen, Malaysia picked up a silver and two bronze medals from diving.

Apart from diving, the Universiade will feature 26 sports, including five new sports, namely sambo, belt wrestling, boxing, rugby sevens and synchronised swimming.

The Malaysian contingent to the Universiade will comprise 115 athletes and officials. — Bernama