Records tumble as PASC grab early lead
KUCHING: Thirteen new meet records were made on the first day of the Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr Wong Soon Kai Inter- Club Swimming Championship at the Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre in Petra Jaya yesterday.
Out of the total, six were created by Dylan Leong Yi Quan who bagged six gold medals to help Kuching’s Power Aquatics Swimming Club (PASC) grab the lead in the championship with 774.5 points.
In second place were Royal Brunei Recreation Club with 357.5 points, followed by defending champions Sibu Amateur Swimming Association (Sasa) with 312.5 points, Kuching Amateur Swimming Association 2010 (Kasa 2010) with 203 points and Sea Dragon Swimming Club with 201 points.
PASC are also leading the charge for the best boys team with 424.5 points and best girls team with 350 points.
Dylan started his campaign with a bang when he won the first event of the meet which was the Boys 8 & Under 100m backstroke by posting a new time of 1:27.71 to erase the old time of 1:30.67 set by Jonas Lau Jiang Le of SSA in 2016.
He went on to win the 50m breaststroke with a record time of 41.67 to beat the old mark of 43.31 set by Brian Lu Yew Hong of Sasa last year.
Dylan’s third new record came from the 100m where he posted a time of 1:13.94 against the old time of 1:15.05 set by Hii Puong Jie of Kota Samarahan Amateur Swimming Association (Kotas) three years ago.
In the 100m breaststroke, Dylan beat 29 others to win the gold in a record time of 1:30.77, chipping off 4.92 from Brian Lu Yee Hong’s (Sasa) record of 1:35.69 set last year in Bintulu.
Dylan went on to win the 50m butterfly in a record time of 36.55 to erase the old mark of 37.50 set by Eden Toh Bock Zien in 2013, and won the 50m backstroke in 41.39 to smash the old record of 41.67 set by Jonas Lau in 2016.
Sukma swimmer Hii Puong Wei also impressed by breaking three records yesterday.
He splashed to a new record of 1:01.58 to win the Boys 1314 100m backstroke to put the five-year record of 1:03.31 set by Hollymax Bell of BMSC into retirement.
Hii’s next new record was created in the 100m freestyle where he shattered the old record of 55.26 set by Welson Sim of Kotas in 2011 by registering a new time of 54.43.
His third record was written in the 50m backstroke where he clocked 28.75 to erase the old record of 29.49 set by Zachary Adam Tan of Kasa 2010 in 2016.
One record was broken by another Sukma swimmer Zachary Adam Tan Kian Phen who won the Boys 15-17 100m freestyle in 54.03. The old time of 54.82 was set by Ngu Jiung Wei of Sasa in 2016.
Other record breakers of the day were Nur Syaziellah Tsen Sey Jin (Girls 8 & Under 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke) and Job Tan Xi Ray (Boys 15-17 50m breaststroke).
Three hundred and thirty-four swimmers representing 12 teams from Johor, Labuan, Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak are taking part in the championships.
PASC are fielding the biggest number of 92 swimmers, followed by Kasa 2010 with 56 swimmers while defending champions Sasa are making their title defence by sending 39 swimmers.
The other teams are Serian Amateur Swimming Association (35), Power Penguin Swimming Club, Kuching (30), Bintulu Amateur Swimming Association (27), Sea Dragon Swimming Club of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (17), Johor’s ISTIO Swimming Club (15), Miri Amateur Swimming Association (15), Royal Brunei Recreation Club (12), Dashing Dolphin Swimming Club, Sibu (4) and Persatuan Renang Labuan (2).
A total of 1,991 entries including 30 for relay will be competed in 222 events over one and a half days to decide the overall champions. Trophies will also be awarded to the best girls team and best boys team.
The participants will compete in their respective age groups namely Group A (15-17 years) Group B (13-14 years), Group C (11-12 years), Group D (9-10 years) and Group E (8 Years & Below).
Individual events are freestyle (50m, 100m), backstroke (50m, 100m), breaststroke (50m, 100m), butterfly (50m, 100m) while the team relay races are 4x50m medley and 4x50m freestyle.
This competition is organised by Amateur Swimming Association of Sarawak (Asas) and hosted by Kasa 2010 with the support of the Sarawak State Sports Council.
It is sanctioned by Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum).