KUALA LUMPUR – After splashing in the pool with a stellar show at the recently concluded 20th Malaysia Games (Sukma), will there be a spot for Johor swimmer Tan Rouxin to make waves at the 2023 SEA Games?
Well, it looks like the best female athlete at this year’s Sukma could be on the cards to compete at the biennial Games in Cambodia, in May next year.
Malaysia Swimming (MS) secretary-general Mae Chen said it might consider roping in the 16-year-old Rouxin following her remarkable feat of taking home six golds, one silver, and one bronze from the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil at this year’s Sukma.
“Yes, we will definitely love to (include Rouxin in the SEA Games squad),” she said when contacted today.
“This is due to the fact that Rouxin is a promising multi-stroke swimmer, who can compete in all four events and the one to watch out for in the future for Malaysia,” she added.
Asked whether the teenager could fill the void left by Phee Jinq En should the national swimmer retire soon, Mae said it was still too early to say that, but she believed that Rouxin was on the right path to shine.
On her overall assessment of all the swimmers’ performances at Sukma, she pointed out that apart from Rouxin, other young swimmers including 15-year-old Loo Yie Bing of Sabah and Federal Territories athlete Muhammad Dhuha Zulfikry, 13, had also oozed class in the pool.
“It was a highly competitive, challenging, and healthy competition among all states. I was glad to see a lot of them going home happy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mae disclosed that MS had intended to offer all this year’s Sukma gold medallists places under the national training programme in Bukit Jalil, if they were not already part of the set-up.
However, she admitted that it would be quite difficult to get some of them to join the training programme as they were bound by the academic programmes in their respective states or even abroad.
“Although they can’t come over (for training), there will still be room for us to plan and negotiate with them. They can continue training in their respective states and after that, they (can) give their training report to us.
“The only difference is that there is no allowance provided as well as some training benefits, such as the support from the National Sports Institute, but at the end of the day, we can still consider them for national duty,” she said. – Bernama, September 26, 2022
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