KUALA LUMPUR — National water skier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah is gunning to break her personal best in the upcoming Oceania Championships in Australia on November 19-20 that will be held at Max Kirwan Ski Park in Mulwala, New South Wales.
The 19-year-old previously set her personal best of 8,080 points, which she achieved during the Fluid Showdown in Florida in June.
While Aaliyah will be entering the slalom, tricks, and jumps category, her 17-year-old brother Aiden will be competing in slalom and tricks.
In a statement issued by the Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation today, head coach Hanifah Yoong said that this would be Aaliyah’s 7th international event this year and her results has placed her in the world’s top 10 in the open women’s standings.
“She is also in the world’s top three in the Under-21 rankings and she definitely wants to keep improving.
“She needs this event to boost her world rankings for good start orders in next year’s IWWF U21 World Championships in Mexico,” he said in the statement.
The Yayasan Sime Darby scholar and ambassador created history by becoming the first Malaysian skier to win a medal at a major international competition series – the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama – in July when she bagged a bronze.
In August, she swept all four gold medals at the Asian Championships in tricks, slalom, jump, and overall category, while her brother Aiden took home a silver and two bronze medals.
Aiden’s current personal best score in tricks is 5,680 points.
The Oceania Championships will be his second event of the year and he hopes to improve his tricks score so that he could qualify for the Junior Moomba in Melbourne in March. – The Vibes, November 18, 2022
