| Khairil Hassan |
THREE athletes and three officials left the country yesterday morning for the 42 Southeast Asia (SEA) Age Group Swimming Championships from July 6 – 8 at the Trace College, Los Banos, Laguna in Philippines.
The Brunei athletes – Natasha Sia from RBRC Swimming Club, Emma Yusuf from ISB Hammer Head and Nur Haziq Samil from Brunei Speed Swimming – will be led by Coach Harjimmey Zainal and Team Manager Awangku Abdul Farid bin Pengiran Idrus.
Natasha Sia will be competing in the Girls 16-18 100m Backstroke, Girls 16-18 50m Freestyle and Girls 16-18 50m Backstroke. Emma Yusuf will be competing in the Girls U13 50m Breaststroke, Girls U13 100m Breaststroke and Girls U13 200m Breaststroke. Nur Haziq Samil will be competing in the Boys 16-18 100m Backstroke, Boys 16-18 200m Backstroke and Boys 16-18 50m Backstroke.
Haji Mohammad Amin bin Haji Abdullah also went to represent Brunei Darussalam as an International Technical Officer (ITO) for the games.
Awangku Abdul Farid told the Bulletin that the competition is to expose the athletes to international competitions.
“There are a lot of competitions locally but their level will stay stagnant, so we need to expose the young athletes internationally to improve them further. This year there will be around 500 to 800 participants from all over Southeast Asia and this will make our athletes work harder and improve on their speed.”
General Secretary of Brunei Darussalam Amateur Swimming Association (BASA), Ang Beng Siong, bid the contingent farewell at the Departure Hall of the Brunei International Airport yesterday morning.