PUTRAJAYA: It was easy stuff for Malaysian waterski prodigy Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah as she rettained her open women’s tricks title at the Putrajaya Cup waterski and wakeboard championships.
The 12-year-old had suffered from back spasm and withdrew from the jump event. But that was not enough to put off the plucky Aaliyah, who scored 5,150 points to take gold at the Putrajaya Watersport Complex yesterday.
It was a superb yet cooly done achievement for Aaliyah who ads this gold to the two golds she won at the SEA Games in Singapore in June.
Indonesia’s Nur Alimah Priambodo, who took silver in Singapore, again settled for silver as she was unable to top Aaliyah’s score, finishing with just 3,180 points. A second Indonesian – Heriyanti, took the bronze with 2,260 points.
There were more medals for Aaliyah as she also took a silver in slalom, finishing second behind Ummuh Thoyibhatus Sholikah of Indonesia.
The same Indonesian girl had also won the silver at the SEA Games and she managed to clear one buoy on a 13m rope. In contrast, Aaliyah managed to round two buoys but settled for silver as she went on a longer 16m rope.
“I think it was a good outing for me today as I’m still working on my main objective… which is to improve on my rankings when I compete in the World Championships in Mexico next month, ” said Aaliyah. I’m learning new tricks with a few more flips during training and today;s score was just nice. In training, I’m averaging 6,500 points and I’m still working on keeping that consistent during competitions, ” added Aaliyah.
In the men’s events, 17-year-old Syahir Nasir continued to show improvement by taking silver in slalom behind Indonesia’s Aguing Sulaksono. He was the only Malaysian male competitor to finish with a medal in the open events as Indonesia dominated the field.
In the novice category, youngest competitor, seven-year-old Adam Yoong Hanifah earned a silver in slalom, finishing behind Norkhairin Khairi who hails from Pangkor Island and had only started slaloming just under one month ago.