TOUGH FIGHT : Two swimmers compete in a girls butterfly event during the first day of the 39th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship at Bukit Lima Swimming Pool. — Photo by Othman Ishak
SIBU: Samarahan girl steals spotlight as stars shine on first day of age group meet.
National swimmers Hii Siew Siew from Sibu and Kuching’s Erika Kong cruised to victory and the first day of the 39th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship at Bukit Lima Swimming Pool saw four records rewritten, including one that stood for 22 years.
Kota Samarahan’s Angela Chieng was in the limelight when she eclipsed the 22-year old record of Tania Bugo in the Girls U16 200m Individual Medley that was firmly established in 1990.
A fast rising swimming star, Angela gave a sterling performance and was literally swimming in her own world as she left her rivals trailing far behind.
Erika rewrote her own record in the Girls U18 200m Individual Medley with a new time of 2’28.49.
Two other swimmers in the category, Nita Wong and Grace Yii, both from Sibu also produced a respectable time.
Sibu’s Alex Tiong Sie Hung broke the record in the Boys U18 200m backstroke with a new time of 2’16.98.
The old record of 2’21.54 was set by Tay Sing Leong in 1992.
The 16-year-old student of SMK Sacred Heart was happy with his performance, saying he could still go a distance if he was provided the challenge.
“The result is satisfactory and I hope to go all out in the next two days for the remaining events that I am down to compete,” he added.
Alex is taking part in all the 16 events slotted in the competition. Thus far, he had collected three gold, two silver and one bronze.
He is not setting any target for the amount of gold medal he would collect but he believed he could create more records, especially in the 50m and 100m backstroke.
The other two gold medals were in the Boys U18 1,500m freestyle and 200m Individual Medley.
The fourth record of the day came courtesy of Kota Samarahan’s Welsom Sim in the Boys U16 100m freestyle.
Welsom produced a time of 54.48’ to beat the old record of 56.28” set by Darren Luke in 1997.
Siew Siew, down to compete in only three events, was not in her usual form.
She managed to retain the title in her favorite pet event, the Girls U18 100m butterfly but she failed to erase her own record of 1’04.29 when she could manage only 1’05.29.