KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian waterskier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah ended the season on a high note after successfully breaking her own Asian record in the Oceania Championships’ open women’s tricks category over the weekend.
The 19-year-old scored 7,970 points at Max Kirwan Ski Park, Mulwala, New South Wales in Australia to finish in first place, ahead of Australians Erica Hayes and Layne Moroney who took second and third place, respectively.
Her previous Asian record stood at 7,960.
It also turned out to be a strong weekend for the Yayasan Sime Darby scholar and ambassador as she finished third and fifth in slalom and jump while taking the top spot in the overall event.
“I am very satisfied with my performances as I had done my best in tricks, slalom, and jump,” said Aaliyah in a statement issued by the Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Association.
“These results will bode me well in maintaining my world rankings for next year which will be crucial for my seedings in the future IWWF world ranking tournaments.”
In slalom, she matched her personal best of 4.5/55kmh/12m line in the first round of the competition.
She eventually scored 3/55/12 to finish third behind New Zealand’s Meg Harraway and Australia’s Casey Wooderson.
In jump, Aaliyah was not so fortunate as she only managed to finish fifth after experiencing a strong tailwind when it was her turn to jump.
Despite leading the pack with a strong 41.3m jump in the first round, she could not improve on that and settled for a distance of 34.3m.
Wooderson won the open women’s jump event, while fellow compatriot Kristy Appleton came in second. Courtney Williams of New Zealand took third place.
Meanwhile, Aaliyah’s brother Aiden Yoong Hanifah did not have a good outing in his open men tricks event as he was knocked out in the first round after his ski broke.
“I had a good first pass which was a toe run and was feeling good. Then, in my second pass, I fell on the first trick when the ski failed,” said Aiden. – The Vibes, November 21, 2022