Penampang association dominate U-12 swimming competition
KOTA KINABALU: Hosts Penampang District Swimming Association (PREPS) emerged as the overall champions in the 9th PREPS Under-12 Swimming Competition over the weekend.
A total haul of 33 gold, 43 silver and 37 bronze medals saw them edge 11 teams in the championship to clinch a fifth successive overall champions title at the Penampang Sports Complex swimming pool.
PJMS Aquatic Swimming Club finished second with 26 gold, five silver and five bronze medals followed by the Sea Dragon Swim Club in third place with 14 gold, 22 silver and 25 bronze medals.
The other teams with medals were Sandakan Swimming Association (SSA) with 10 gold, 15 silver and six bronze; Persatuan Renang Labuan (PRL) with six gold, one silver and two bronzes; Peratuan Akuatik Labuan (Pal) with one gold, three silver and six bronze; Blue Marlin Swimming Club (BMSC) with one silver and seven bronze; Kelab Rekreasi Petroliam with two bronze; and K.I.S Stingrays with one bronze.
Other participating teams were the ISB Hammerhead Swimming Club, Tawau Swimming Association, and Sabah Sports School Malaysia (SSMS).
The best swimmers from various age groups were also honoured at the championship.
They were Linus Liew Zhun Cheng of PJMS in the Boys’ seven-year-old category where he won four gold and one silver medal while also setting four new records.
The Girls’ seven-year-old event saw PREPS’ Celeste Liew Q win two gold, two silver and a bronze while setting two new records.
In the eight-year-old category, PREPS’ Ignacio Wong Hao Zhe (eight gold, one new record) and PRL’s Nur Syaziellah Tsen Sey Jing (six gold, one silver, one bronze; six new records) were the boys’ and girls’ best performers, respectively.
Deven Max Carroll of PJMS (six gold, one silver, one bronze) and PREPS’ Annabelle Frederic (six gold, two silver) won the top swimmer awards for the boys’ and girls’ nine-year-old categories, respectively.
The 10-year-old category saw Eddie Law Li Hui of PREPS (three gold, five silver; two new records) for the boys and Loo Yie Bing (eight gold; four new records) for girls as the winners.
In the 11-year-old division, Samuel Ng Chong Cheng of PJMS with eight gold and as many new records as well as Sharifah Destinee Dickerson of PREPS with four gold and four silver were the top boy and girl swimmers.
As for the 12-year-old event, Jay Lo Vui Seng of PJMS with six gold, two silver and two new records as well as Yong Xing Ru of SDSC with seven gold, one silver and two new records won the boys’ and girls’ top swimmer award.
For the record, the championship this year achieved a record entry of 313 participants, the highest number of entries for a swimming competition in Sabah.
PREPS, who have the smallest swimming pool or training facility among the teams, registered the most participants with 76 swimmers.
The competition is a development programme for youngsters 12 years old and younger.