| Fadhil Yunus |
BRUNEI Darussalam freediving competitor Haneef bin Haji Shahminan put the country on the sporting map after he outlasted 39 other rivals to win the Sabang International Freediving Competition 2018 at the Weh Island, Aceh which was held from November 3-8.
The Brunei free-diver also achieved a national record during the competition which featured competitors from 23 countries including Russia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, China, Australia, the UK and USA.
“Freediving is different than scuba diving in that we do not use tanks. When it comes to safety, it is important as we do not rely on the equipment. We rely on our body. So why freediving? It is because we emphasise on safety,” said Haneef in an interview with the Bulletin.
“When you drown, what do you do? What should you do? That is why a lot of surfers do diving for the safety protocols.”
The purpose of freediving is to encourage interested enthusiasts to be mindful of how to act when confronted in a situation where panic strikes in the ocean as it will teach them to be relaxed and at peace and at the same time also enjoy the Brunei waters especially the wrecks.
“It’s a breath hold because once you hold your breath you know what to do. You can relax and there are a lot of things going on with the safety protocols when it comes to diving. Safety is our main priority in freediving,” Haneef further added.
The Sabang International winner highlighted on the promotion of freediving in Brunei mainly through the unique shipwrecks and this uniqueness drew the attention of other countries.
“We want to make freediving big because we have a lot of shipwrecks here in Brunei. We have a lot of reefs. I talk to a lot of people about Brunei and surprisingly they said that it would be nice if wreck diving could be done in Brunei.”
“The Singaporeans plan to bring students to Brunei for a fun dive. Malaysia is also interested and it is good for tourism in Brunei.”
“I think wreck diving for the visibility, Brunei is good enough. Maybe you can go for 20 milimetres of visibility which is good enough.”
“The free-divers emphasise on looking on underwater things. It is recreational but it can also be a sport in terms of competition. So we go both ways. We can enjoy while we do it for competition.”
Cekli Dive Crew has contributed to Haneef’s promising competitive career by making a support system for training in depth competition whereby free-divers go to the ocean and practise.
“Cekli has been supporting us during the competition with my brother (Faiz) so we are encouraging ourselves. He encouraged us to pursue it.”
Haneef’s achievements have also sent shockwaves in the international arena more so with Brunei previously unheard of in the field of freediving.
“Most people in the competition were surprised that I was from Brunei. I was the first from Brunei who achieved the national record. They didn’t expect Brunei to participate in this competition.”
“I myself did not expect to win anything. Other participants have a lot of sponsorships. And the government (of Indonesia) I think spent like 200 million just to promote this freediving.”
Haneef, who pursued freediving at the end of last year, said that a good safety team of certified free-divers is in place. Their education system is centred on Molchanovs education system which was developed by renowned world champions of diving. Interested individuals could also take Wave 1 and Wave 2 courses.
The Brunei freediver is supported by Cekli Dive Crew, Brunei Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) and the Department of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports especially for using their facilities. In addition, he also thanked his parents and brothers for their unwavering support.
Organised by the Indonesian Freediving Association, the disciplines included constant weight (CWT), free immersion (FIM) and constant weight no fins (CNF).