46 records broken as PASC storms to the lead
KUCHING: A total of 46 new records were created on the first day of the 2nd Sarawak Short Course Sprint Swimming Championships at Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre swimming pool in Petra Jaya yesterday.
Defending champions Power Aquatics Swimming Club (PASC) of Kuching amassed 941.5 points to take a commanding lead in the meet which attracted 19 teams from Brunei, Indonesia, Sabah, West Malaysia and Sarawak.
SWIMART of Kuching stands in second place after collecting 467 points with Kawaras Swimming Club of Kuching lying third with 442.50 points while in fourth and fifth spots are Penampang Preppies Swimming Club from Sabah and Sailfish Swimming Club from Miri with 373 points and 313 points respectively.
In sixth to 10th positions are Mabohai Swim Club of Brunei (247), Sekolah Sukan Malaysia Sabah (181), Pontianak Swimming Club of Indonesia (172), Sea Dragon Swimming Club of Sabah (167) and SRIKL from Kuala Lumpur (136).
Organising chairman Voon Yong Hui, who was pleased with the overwhelming response, revealed that the championships has attracted 520 swimmers competing in 4,112 entries.
“In the first edition of the championship held in 2019, we had 378 swimmers including one team from Indonesia.
“This year, we are surprised to have the presence of four teams from Sabah with over 100 swimmers, two teams from Pontianak, Kalimantan Indonesia, and teams from Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Melaka,” he told thesundaypost.
According to Voon who is also PASC advisor, there could have been more participants if not for the late decision to host the event due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are hoping to organise a bigger scale competition next year targeting 700-800 swimmers and the competition to be spread over three days,” he added.