Wednesday 27 August 2014

The Star : There’s more to come from swimmer Welson

BY TAN MING WAI

PETALING JAYA: Youngster Welson Sim is convinced that there is still plenty more to come from him after he impressed at last week’s Nanjing Youth Olympic Games (YOG) swimming competition.

Welson may have failed to make the finals in the three freestyle events – 200m, 400m and 800m – but, as far as his performance is concerned, the 17-year-old from Samarahan, Sarawak, has certainly showed lots of promise.

Welson smashed senior team-mate Kevin Yeap’s national record in the 800m freestyle by clocking 8:15.84. It wiped out Kevin’s previous mark of 8:18.79 set at the 2011 World Championships in Rome.

He also went on to improve on his personal best in both of the 200m and 400m freestyle events.

Welson dipped below 1:52 for the first time in 200m event by posting 1:51.99 and shaved almost three seconds off from his previous personal best to clock a brilliant 3:55.72 in the 400m distance. The time was not far away from the national record of 3:53.26 held by Kevin.

“I only thought about hitting my personal best times. It (the 800m freestyle record) was totally unexpected,” said Welson in a telephone interview from Nanjing.

“One national record and two personal bests ... I really couldn’t ask for more. I’m pleased with how things have gone in my YOG debut.

“But it’s the 1,500m distance, for which I have a personal best of 15:47, that really matters. Like Kevin, we are working really hard towards ending Jeffrey Ong’s long-standing national record of 15:23.61 (set in 1991).”

Welson, who was promoted to the national elite squad last year, has been touted as the next big thing in long distance swimming for Malaysia after Kevin.

Welson has also established himself as a regular member in the national quartet for relay events for the past one year, and was part of team who set a new national record in the 4x200m freestyle at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games early this month.

For now, all he is interested in is to do well in the Incheon Asian Games next month.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

The NST : SWIMMING: ASUM cracks whip on underachievers

BY AJITPAL SINGH

THE Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (ASUM) has taken a tough stand on underperforming swimmers.

The association picked only seven swimmers for next month’s Incheon Asian Games.

Sea Games champion Kevin Yeap, Welson Sim, Lim Ching Hwang, Vernon Lee and reserve member Alywn Tan make up the men’s squad while Khoo Cai Lin and independent swimmer Chui Lai Kwan were the only female swimmers selected for the assignment.

Those dropped were Myanmar Sea Games doubles gold medallist Christina Loh, Erika Kong, Yap Siew Hui, Erika Kong, Nadia Adrianna Redza, Tern Jian Han, Shaun Yap and the injured Daniel Bego.

Kevin, Ching Hwang, Welson and Vernon were given the nod after breaking the national record twice en route to reaching the 4x200m freestyle final in Glasgow.

They finished seventh in the final ahead of arch rivals Singapore.

ASUM secretary Edwin Chong said all the seven will go under Category A.

“All of them met the sixth-placed times of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games,” said Edwin yesterday.

“Cai Lin qualified on merit for the 400m and 800m freestyle while Lai Kwan was included as she did well in Glasgow by reaching the semi-finals in the 50m freestyle and improving on her own national record.

“All were reminded to meet the qualifying mark in Glasgow but most failed to come near their personal best times.”

In diving, newly crowned Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ooi Tze Liang leads the men’s squad also comprising Chew Yi Wei and Ahmad Amsya Azman.

World No 4 platform diver Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong, Leong Mun Yee, Wendy Ng, Loh Zhiayi and Nur Dhabitah Sabri make up the women’s team.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia also gave the green light to ASUM to send Katrina Ann Hadi, Tasha Jane and Lee Yhing Huey for the duet event in synchronised swimming.


The Star : Only seven swimmers picked for Asiad

BY LIM TEIK HUAT

KUALA LUMPUR: Only seven swimmers will compete in next month’s Incheon Asian Games in South Korea.

The seven selected are five members of the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay squad – Kevin Yeap, Lim Ching Hwang, Welson Sim, Vernon Lee and reserve Alywn Tan. The two women picked are Khoo Cai Lin and Chui Lai Kwan.

Kevin, Ching Hwang, Welson and Vernon broke the national record twice en route to reaching the 4x200m freestyle final in Glasgow. They finished seventh and were ahead of rivals Singapore.

Kevin Yeap is among the seven selected for the five-man 4x200m freestyle relay squad.

The seven will go under Category A, meaning the expenses will be borne by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).

Amateur Swimming Union of Malaysia (Asum) secretary Edwin Chong said the six juniors – double SEA Games champion Christina Loh, Yap Siew Hui, Erika Kong, Nadia Adrianna Redza, Shaun Yap and Tern Jian Han – who competed in the Commonwealth Games failed to make the cut.

“They did not swim anywhere near their personal best times, so we cannot consider them for the Asiad,” added Edwin.

For diving, Malaysia will be entering nine competitors.

Commonwealth Games 3m springboard champion Ooi Tze Liang will lead the men’s squad. The others are Chew Yi Wei and Ahmad Amsyar.

The women divers picked are Pandelela Rinong, Leong Mun Yee, Wendy Ng Yan Yee, Cheong Jun Hoong, Loh Zhiayi and Nur Dhabitah Sabri.

Malaysia will also be represented in the duet event in synchronised swimming. The three selected are Tasha Jane, Katrina Ann Hadi and Lee Yhing Huey.

“We are not expecting a medal from them. We are sending a team as they need to prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympic qualifiers. Many of the judges will be on duty at the Asiad and we need to expose our synchronised swimmers to them,” said Edwin.


Monday 18 August 2014

The Star : Swimmer Welson sets new PB in Youth Olympics

PETALING JAYA: There were no medals to show on the first day but national junior shuttlers Cheam June Wei and Lee Ying Ying got off to a fine start at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing.

June Wei, a quarter-finalist at the World Junior Championships this year disposed off Nepal’s Dipesh Dhami 21-13, 21-11 in 27 minutes in his opening men’s singles Group C match on Sunday.

The 17-year-old faces Thailand’s Mek Narongrit on Monday. June Wei will need to win all his matches as only the winner of the group moves onto the quarter-finals.

Ying Ying also chalked up an easy 21-13, 21-6 victory over Austria’s Janine Lais in her singles opening Group H match. Ying Ying takes on Katrina Beton of Slovenia on Monday.

June Wei and Ying Ying also saw action in the mixed doubles event.

June Wei partnered Hong Kong’s Ng Tsz Yau to beat the Austria-Mexico pair of Wolfgang Gnedt and Sabrina Martinez 21-12, 21-9 in Group C while in Group D, Ying Ying and Taiwan’s Lu Chia-hung fought back from a game down to beat Vietnamese-Turkish pair Pham Cao Cuong-Aliye Demirbag 19-21, 21-9, 21-17.

At the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre, swimmer Welson Sim clocked a new personal best of 3:55.72 in the men’s 400m freestyle.

The 17-year-old Sarawakian shaved more than three seconds off his old time of 3:59.21. He missed out on the final as his time was only good enough for fifth place in his heat.

Malaysian swimmer Welson Sim broke his personal best time in the 400m freestyle at the Youth Olympics in China on Sunday. - Filepic

Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk took the gold in 3:49.76 ahead of El Salvador’s Marcelo Alberto Acosta (3:51.32) and Norway’s Henrik Christiansen (3:51.55).

Meanwhile in artistic gymnastics, Jeremiah Loo scored 77.025 to finish 16th in the men’s individual all-around during the qualification competition.

The 16-year-old who trains at the Tuo Dong Ti Yu Guan school in Kunming, China finished ninth in the pommel horse (13.500) and sixth in parallel bars (13.575) behind top performers Ukraine’s Vladyslav Hryko (14.150) and Britain’s Giarnni Regini-Moran (14.30) respectively.

Jeremiah finished 18th in the floor (13.150), 20th in the horizontal bars (12.500), 30th in the rings (11.500) and scored 12.800 in the vault to finish 36th.


Thursday 14 August 2014

The Star : Ching Hwang honoured to carry Jalur Gemilang in Nanjing

BY JOASH EE DE SILVA

KUALA LUMPUR: It will be a momentous occasion for national swimmer, Lim Ching Hwang as he carries the Malaysian flag for the team when the 2nd edition of the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China from Aug 16-28.

Lim Ching Hwang will compete in five events at the Youth Olympics - filepic

“I feel extremely honoured to be the flag bearer at such a big event. Representing the whole team gives me more energy to perform better,” said Ching Hwang.

He will need the boost as he participates in five events (50m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m mixed team relay) during the 13-day event.

“Winning a medal at the games will be hard as it is really competitive. The best junior swimmers around the world will be competing and everyone is swimming faster than before.

“For now my target is to qualify for the finals of my events before aiming for a medal,” said the 18- year-old.

In May he won a gold medal at the Malaysian Open in the 100m freestyle before winning another gold in the same event and two bronzes (50m butterfly and 200m individual medley) at the South-East Asia (SEA) age-group championships in Singapore.

Last year when he came back with a gold medal (200m freestyle), two silvers (50m freestyle and 100m freestyle) and a bronze (4x100m medley relay) from the Asian Youth Games in August, also in Nanjing.

Despite his success, Ching Hwang does not hide his admiration for national swimmer, Daniel Bego and looks up to great swimmers like Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe.

“I like Daniel’s fighting spirit as he never gives up and continues swimming even with an injury. I hope to be as good as him but I want to become even better than,” said Ching Hwang who is based at the Singapore Sports School.


Monday 11 August 2014

IBSC is again the Champion Club in SportExcel Grand Final 2014


IBSC again retains its title as the Champion Club in the SportExcel Junior Swimming Circuit 2014 at Bandar Tun Razak swimming complex yesterday after defeating the other clubs with a big margin. All together, there are 22 clubs making to the final round after having swum the Leg 1 and 2 in Melaka in May and June 2014.

IBSC with 44 swimmers, the most number of qualifiers into the Grand Final, collected 408 points from the third and final leg. Pade Supersharkz came in second with 204 points while third position goes to Kelab Renang MSSC with 128 points.

Participating clubs with their winning points
Trophies waiting for their rightful owners

This year is the first time SportExcel rewards trophies to overall champions in the respective age group. The swimmers who have gained the most medals in each age group earned the laurels and they are :

Group 4 Girls
Yipp Chee Tong (PJMS Aquatic Swimming Club) : 5 gold

Group 4 Boys
Koay Wern Rui (Chinese Swimming Club) : 3 Gold, 1 Bronze

Group 3 Girls
Christy Teh Xing Ti (Sonic Swim Club) : 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze

Group 3 Boys
Sebastion Soon (Ikan Bilis Swimming Club) : 3 Gold, 3 Silver

Group 2 Girls
Elynn Tan Yilin (Penang Swimming Club) : 5 Gold, 1 Bronze

Group 2 Boys
Goh Yue Hong (Ikan Bilis Swimming Club) : 3 Gold, 2 Silver


Sebastian Soon won the 11-12 boys overall champion with 3 gold and 3 silver
Yue Hong happy to be still on top after his recovery




The Full Results of Grand Final 2014 can be downloaded here.


Congratulations to all age-group champions above and medallists!

Well done too to IBSC finalists for an awesome performance and credit goes to the coaches for their untiring effort in moulding the swimmers to achieve excellence.

The Team Manager of IBSC, Mr Vincent Low has done a great job in managing the team and thumbs up too to Mrs Tharani Lee as the caring chaperon. Also appreciation must be mentioned to volunteers of IBSC - Kak Zie, Pak Andi, En. Faizal, Mr WK Ng, Jeremy, Tan Ei Siang, Teo Yang Jiew and other ex-parents and ex-swimmers who have came forward to contribute their time and energy as marshals, time-keepers, photographers and be part of the working committee for the meet.

CONGRATULATIONS Team IBSC and KUDOS to all for the great team work!

Enjoy some snapshots here, courtesy of IBSC parents. To view more please see IBSC Gallery.



IBSC won the overall champion club with the highest points among 22 participating clubs
A group photo for the coaches before the meet starts
Sebastian Soon leaping off to a good start
Kimberly Ong
Group 2 boys getting ready to race, from left, Howard, Adam, Desmond and Nick Sia
Adam flying off the block to win gold in his 50m breaststroke at 31.81s
Yue Hong stretching to gold in his 100m backstroke with a time of 1:04.70
Rohan Lee's favourite butterfly earned him a bronze in 50m fly at 27.72s
Shannen Kay Chan



Friday 8 August 2014

IBSC leveled up to second position in 10th SICC Invitational Swimming Championship

Last year, Team IBSC participated in the 9th SICC Invitational meet at Singapore Island Country Club with only 19 swimmers and got third position overall. The small team has enjoyed the trip very much and that has drummed up some interest this year as IBSC sent a total of 32 swimmers to the 10th SICC Invitational meet across the causeway.

With strong challenge, Team IBSC managed to level up its position to second place this year after the Philippines Swim League, followed by the host, SICC in the third position.

The annual group photo of SICC's Swimming Championship

Many of our swimmers joining the trip were fairly young. The meet gave them a great experience and a chance to make new friends from the neighbouring countries.

The meet started with a march past by all the participating teams and Team IBSC was led by Desmond Ng. Other teams were the Philippines Swim League, Stingray Swimming Club, Royal Selangor Golf Club, Penang Swimming Club, Sonic Swim Club, St. Claire Montessori School and the host, SICC.

Desmond Ng, leading the march past in the opening ceremony


Steve Khiew was sponsored by his school to SICC meet
Team IBSC has done fairly well by accumulating 18 gold, 22 silver and 25 bronze in the individual and relay events.

The top performer of IBSC is non other than Steve Khiew who had made a clean sweep of all 9 gold in the individual events he participated and in the process made a few PBs for himself. Steve was crowned the Overall Champion in the 11-12 years boys category.

The best girl performer of IBSC was Chloe Ng, who managed to pull in 1 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze in the 11-12 girls category. She also won another gold in the Mixed relay event together with team mates Howard Sim, Fatin Natsha and Iqmal Muqhis.

Chloe Ng, energetic all the time

















The summary of medal achievement by IBSC swimmers are tabulated below.

Boys
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Steve Khiew, 12
9


Rohan Lee, 14
2
1
1
Desmond Ng, 15
2

2
Teo Zun Jet, 8
1
2
3
Iqmal Muqhis bin Faizal, 13

3
2
Tan Ei Siang, 16

3

Adam Afif bin Faizal, 15

1
1
Ng Yi Xuan, 9

1

Howard Sim, 15


1
Jackson Khiew, 14


1
Ng K-Yang, 10


1
Girls
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Chloe Ng, 12
1
1
4
Amana Grace Nunis, 16

3
2
Jaime Lim, 12

2
2
Alia binti Dato Salleh, 14

1
1
Farra Dyana Arffin, 16

1

Relays
Gold
Silver
Bronze
9-10 Girls 200m Free Relay
(Law Li Wei, Celeste Lee, Ira Singh, Teo Sze Hui)

11-12 Girls 200m Free Relay
(Chelsea Lee, Ng Xin Wei, Low Yi Jin, Jaime Lim)

13-14 Boys 200m Free Relay
(Rohan Lee, Caleb Nunis, Jackson Khiew, Iqmal Muqhis)

13-14 Girls 200m Free Relay
(Nuraina Naziha, Pavinya, Chloe Ng, Alia Salleh)






1


1



1

1
9-10 Boys 200m Medley Relay
(Teo Zun Jet, Ng K-Yang, Yau Shen Ming, Ng Yi Xuan)

9-10 Girls 200m Medley Relay
(Teo Sze Hui, Law Li Wei, Celeste Lee, Ira Singh)

11-12 Girls 200m Medley Relay
(Chelsea Lee, Ng Xin Wei, Jaime Lim, Low Yi Jin)

11-12 Boys 200m Medley Relay
(Low Ken Ji, Iqmal Muqhis, Rohan Lee, Caleb Nunis)


1








1






1


1



13-14 Girls 200m Medley Relay
(Pavinya, Nuraina Naziha, Alia Salleh, Chloe Ng)




1
Mixed Relay
IBSC Team A
(Iqmal Muqhis, Fatin Natasha, Chloe Ng, Howard Sim)



1



The Full Results of 10th SICC can be downloaded here.


The swimmers had a fun time at the resort like pool even though soaked under the sun and the parents' support was really awesome. Some parents braved the Raya traffic to drive down to Singapore to watch the meet and support their swimming kids.

Mixed relay teams all excited to swim against each other
Great support team of IBSC, taking time off to see their swimming children
Parents all geared up to watch to relay races

Bravo to Team IBSC!

Team IBSC has yet achieved another milestone in SICC meet and hopefully we will see further improvement next year.

We also would like to take this opportunity to thank the parents, Mrs Yap, Mrs Christine Tan, Mrs Law for contributing room, snacks and food to the swimmers. The accompany coach, Coach Kamaruddin has also done a great job in making sure the swimmers are taken care of, in and out of the competition.

Also thumbs-up to the accompanying parents for rendering such superb support to the team and sharing tons of good photos.

Lastly, we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the host, SICC, for graciously hosting the 10th SICC meet with great hospitality. We shall meet again next year.

More photos at IBSC Gallery.

Steve Khiew won straight golds in all the 9 individual events he participated 
Chloe Ng
Ruwan Lee, Sarvesh and Ng K-Yang enjoying themselves in the meet
Andi Muhammad, excited to join SICC for the first time
Boys having great fun under the sun
Coach Kamal and some parents accompanying the swimmers in SICC during the lunch break
Ei Siang and Desmond in 100 back medal presentation
Mixed Relay Team A of IBSC won gold
YMCA kids

* Photos courtesy of IBSC parents









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