Fadhil Yunus
Yang Teramat Mulia Pengiran Muda Muhammad Aiman ibni Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Muda Mahkota Pengiran Muda Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah made his maiden swimming appearance during the first Brunei National Age Group Swimming Championships (Short Course) at the International School Brunei in Jalan Utama Salambigar recently.
Yang Teramat Mulia Pengiran Muda Muhammad Aiman competed in the 25 metres (m) backstroke and 25 freestyle events in the nine-year group. Meanwhile, Brunei Darussalam national swimming trio of Zeke Chan, Christian Nikles and Hayley Wong all contributed to eight new national records.
Hayley Wong led the charge with four new national records in the 50m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke and 400m Individual Medley events.
The country’s rising star broke the 30-second barrier in the 50m butterfly, posting a time of 29.51s and subsequently wiping her old time of 30.53s.
Hayley and Zeke, two of the country’s up-and-coming stars, also comfortably set new national records in most of their events.
Zeke Chan revised the times in the 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke events, while Christian Nikles broke his own national records in the 50m and 100m freestyle events. In the overall medal table, Hammerhead Swimming Club came out on top after accumulating 60 gold, 58 silver and 45 bronze medals.
Mabohai Swim Club finished second with 56 gold, 40 silver and 30 bronze medals, with Brunei Speed Swimming Club coming in third place with a haul of 51 gold, 29 silver and 22 bronze medals.
A total of 11 clubs participated with 1,364 individual and 35 relays events entered, and some 231 swimmers registered including 125 boys and 106 girls.
The two-day competition was organised by the Brunei Darussalam Swimming Association.
