18 records fall on first day of inter-school competition
KUCHING: Eighteen new records were created on the first day of the 7th Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) Inter-Primary and Secondary Schools Swimming Championships at the Sarawak Aquatic Centre pool yesterday.
Keen competition among the participating teams saw SMK Kuching High and SJK Chung Hua No. 4 claiming narrow leads over defending champions St Joseph’s Private School and SJK Chung Hua No. 2 in the secondary and primary schools category respectively.
The Highians, powered by the Teo siblings Mandy, Natasha and Andrea, accumulated 235 points to finish just four points ahead of St Joseph’s Private School.
The gap between the third and fourth placed teams Lodge School and SM Batu Lintang was also close, with the former collecting 144 points against the latter’s 129 points while in a distant fifth are SMK Padungan with 61 points.
In the primary schools section, last year’s first runners-up SJK Chung Hua No. 4 collected 197 points to gain a six-point lead over SJK Chung Hua No. 2 in what has turned out to be a twohorse race.
The teams in contention for the third to fifth spots are SK Green Road (60), St Joseph’s Private School (57), Lodge School (52), SJK Chung Hua No. 3 (45), SJK Chung Hua Sungai Jernang (39) and SJK Chung Hua Sungai Tapang (38).
Meanwhile, in the individual events, last year’s Boys Group B (13-14) best boy swimmer from St Joseph’s Private School Zachary Tan is set to lift the Boys Group A (15-17) best boy award after cracking three old records and bagging three gold and two bronze medals.
His new records were set in the 200m individual medley where he clocked 2:16.81s (2:20.37s), 100m backstroke in 1:05.97s (1:07.66s) and 100m freestyle in 54.61s (55.90s).
Tan Tyng from Chung Hua Middle School No. 3 also impressed with four new records created in as many events she won yesterday.
She shattered Angela Chieng’s 2013 record of 2:38.53s in the 200m individual medley by clocking 2:36.38s, 50m breaststroke in 36.76s (37.13s), 50m butterfly in 30.74s (30.78s) and 100m freestyle in 1:01.72s (1:02.28s).
A total of 54 events were completed yesterday and today’s competition will resume with 54 more events. More than 340 swimmers from 48 schools in Kuching and Samarahan divisions are competing for top honours in this meet organised by Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas).
In addition to the Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah’s champion primary and secondary schools trophies, individual trophies will be awarded to the best girl and boy swimmers in each of the five age groups.
Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah will close the event at 4:30pm today and give away the main prizes.