Ayrton Lim
KUCHING: The Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak (Asas) is shocked and sad over the death of Sukma swimmer Ayrton Lim.
Aryton, 19, was found lifeless in the living room of his house at Tabuan Laru at around noon yesterday by his mother after she fetched her younger son from school.
“This is a very, very sad day for Sarawak swimming,” said Asas president Dato Wee Hong Seng.
“First of all, the whole Sarawak swimming fraternity shares our deepest sympathy and extend our heart felt condolence to the deceased’s family.
“It is a very sad loss of a young life with the whole world in from of him,” he added.
Wee said 2019 had been a very difficult year for Asas and not so long ago Sarawak lost a former Kuching Amateur Swimming Association swimmer to rabies at the young age of 26.
“And now we lost another 19-year-old swimmer who is actually in the Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) Elite Swimming Programme for the last few years at the Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre under the guidance of MSNS elite head coach Dieung Manggang.”
Aryton specialises in the 50m and 100m breaststroke and had represented Sarawak in the last Sukma in Perak last year in those events.
According to Wee, who is also the mayor of the Kuching South City Council (MBKS), swimmers are drafted into the development programme at a relatively young age, as young as seven years
old and nurtured through the years.
Along this journey, Asas and its affiliates also watch over their growing up process both physically, mentally and emotionally.
“We trained them to be disciplined, hard working and have perseverance, mind of steel, highly competitive mindset, righteousness and dignity.
He stressed the need to always have time to listen to them no matter how seemingly naive or little their concerns were.
“I would even go a step further by actually requesting our Youth and Sports Ministry to set up a counselling service for athletes or swimmers.”
Meanwhile, Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) president Alice Kwon also offered her deepest sympathy and condolence to Aryton’s family.
“I am very sad because he is a talented swimmer and good boy.
“He was formerly a Kotas swimmer before joining Serian Amateur Swimming Association and currently is a member of KASA 2010.
“Aryton used to greet me with a smile but two weeks ago when I last saw him after he completed his training at the Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre, he did not greet me and looked moody,” Kwon recalled.
“Maybe he was tired after the training,” she said.