EVA WONG knows the dedication needed for swimmers to excel in the pool. Both her parents are swim coaches and three other family members are involved in aquatic sports training, either here or in Malaysia.

So when she says Sabah's Blue Marlin Swimming Club - winners of last weekend's 18th Brunei Age Group Swimming Championships over her own Brunei Swimming Scheme - is an example of how clubs should prepare for meets, her students would do well to listen.

"We knew we were going to have our hands full against the team from Sabah. They are strong and inviting them (here) was an eye-opener for our local swimmers," said Wong, in an interview with The Brunei Times, yesterday.

Wong was referring to the second-string Sabah squad which turned up for the competition despite the ongoing secondary school class assessments.

"They brought their books to the swimming pool and were studying whenever they had the time. I wanted our local swimmers to see their dedication and also their level compared to ours."

That level of dedication impressed spectators at the Aquatic Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas, who saw the Malaysians run away with the championship after winning 57 gold, 35 silver and 24 bronze medals.

Wong was looking towards the horizon and the the prospects for the Bruneian team, which fielded 71 swimmers at the meet compared to only 17 turning up for the Sabah juniors. "They have been (undergoing) intensive training. Even waking up at 5am to work out. Missing training is not an option as they may get kicked out of their squad (if they do so)," added Wong, whose brother Jimmy was swimming for the Sabah team.

However, Amanda Liew Jia Xin was the star for the national team, ending the three-day meet with 11 gold medals - 10 individually - en route to breaking eight national records in the 15-17 year-old division.

Despite Liew's efforts, Wong thought a better result was in the offing: "I'm not very satisfied. Our preparations didn't go well due to the exam period and the change of the closing time of the swimming pool."

Tammy Tie wasn't quite so pessimistic about the future of Bruneian swimming, pointing to some areas of improvement since she resigned from the job in May last year.

"I found two (Anderson Lim Chee Wei and Desmond Lee Edward). Both of them to have improved a lot from the time I was here," said Tie.

Both boys competed in Group 3 (13-14 years old) with Lim bagging the age group's Best Boy award by winning five gold, one silver and one bronze while Edward won three gold and four silver medals.

Completing the family circle, was Johnny Wong, Eva's father and Tammy's husband, who is the Jerudong International School (JIS) swim coach. The school won their first gold at the event through Joshua Yong, winner of Group 5 (eight years old and under) 50 metres breaststroke. Yong pocketed all JIS's medals with one gold, three silver and one bronze.

The Brunei Times