BEST OF THE CROP: Erika Kong and Roydon Ong pose in this file photo.
KUCHING: Swimming in Kuching is looking very bright and the division can now look forward to winning more glory in the future, especially with the younger group of swimmers coming up the ranks.
The recent success of the 17-member team from Kuching Amateur Swimming Association (Kasa) 2010 at the 39th Sarawak Age Group Swimming Championship in Sibu has proven that Kuching swimmers have now come of age.
They scooped 44 gold, 33 silver and 23 bronze medals to top the medal tally and emerge as the ‘unofficial’ overall champions of the swimming meet at Bukit Lima Swimming Pool from Feb 24-27.
Kasa 2010 swimmers also broke three records in the three-day state meet, with national swimmer Erika Kong smashing the Girls Group A 200m IM (2:28.49s)and 400 IM record (5:18.47s) and state swimmer Roydon Ong creating a new record time of 26.38s in the Boys Group A 50m butterfly, breaking Daniel Bego’s record set seven years ago.
Erika was Kasa 2010’s best performer with her 12-gold medal haul, followed by Mandy Teo with nine golds, Roydon Ong and Zachary Tan captured five golds each, Stephanie Goh (four golds) Zoe Tan (three golds), Sarah Ann Thorpe and Girls C Relay team (two golds each) and one gold each from Joash Voon and Lorna Ching.
The team was managed and coached by Anthony Kong.
Kuching also won three of the best swimmer awards through Erika Kong in Girls Group A, Mandy Teo in Girls Group D and Zachary Tan in Boys Group D.
In a close second were Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) with 43 golds, 21 silvers and 29 bronzes while Sibu Amateur Swimming Association (Sasa) came in third with 39 golds, 51 silvers and 39 bronzes.
Miri Amateur Swimming Association (Masa) collected six golds, 21 silvers and 26 bronzes to finish in fourth place and Amateur Swimming Association of Kapit (Asak) won three silvers and five bronzes for the fifth position.
Bintulu Amateur Swimming Association (Basa) went home empty-handed from the event.
“The excellent results augers well for Kuching swimming, taking into consideration that Kasa 2010, since its formation two years ago, has virtually no support from Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak (Asas), no designated centre for training or coaching staff allocation from any agency,” a reliable source in the Kuching swimming fraternity said yesterday.
According to him, Kuching had the tremendous satisfaction to beat traditional powerhouses like Sibu and Miri into third and fourth placing, with Kota Samarahan tagging behind them in a close second.
“What more fulfilling to Kuching is that the swimmers in Group D (aged ten and below) had the lion’s share of the gold medals and this just reflects Kasa 2010’s development and grass roots swimming are in place,” the source said.
“Kuching and Samarahan swimmers captured 87 gold medals in the state meet and that goes on to show the dominance of the swimmers. In fact, to me Kasa and Kotas are one because a majority of the Kotas swimmers were originally from Kuching.”
He attributed Kasa 2010’s success to the passion, strong commitment and support from the parents and the strong determination of the swimmers to do well.
“Kasa has produced good calibre swimmers like Erika Kong who has represented Malaysia in the SEA Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games and Roydon Ong who has represented Sarawak in national championships,” he added.
The source said Kasa 2010 is looking forward to many good years ahead for Kuching swimming once it has a better rapport in terms of training facilities like sports science, training centre and professional coaches.