KUALA LUMPUR: Former national swimming queen, Nurul Huda Abdullah had produced so many incredible splashes at a young age before leaving the pool for good at 18 years old.
Fast forward to today, Nurul Huda is back in action but this time, in a different capacity as the new Malaysia Swimming (MS) assistant secretary.
The national swimming great was one of the three fresh faces elected at the 54th annual general meeting of MS for the 2023/2025 term last Saturday.
The other two were Selangor swimming head coach, Marilyn Chua who was elected vice-president and Negeri Sembilan’s Andy Low as the new secretary-general.
While Nurul Huda had enjoyed outstanding feats in the past, the 22-time SEA Games gold medallist realised her current role is no easy feat.
This, she said, was due to the fact the local swimming scene had been declining ever since she retired three decades ago.
Ergo, the first Malaysian to win a swimming medal at the Asian Games in the 1986 edition in Seoul, South Korea, had asked for patience from Malaysians to see the new faces of MS help the country return to their heyday particularly in the 80s and 90s.
“Let us study who are the up and coming swimmers first. I can’t promise anything because sports is something you just cannot pull out of the hat, it takes time.
“We know that swimming has been lagging and we want to play our part…we know that it will be a challenge moving forward but we are all very committed to contribute to the performance of Malaysia swimmers,” she said after the meeting to select athletes and officials to the 2022 Asian Games, here.
The Olympian also said that they need to learn from the way other countries are doing as well as targeting on the specific event that they should focus on in the future.
On the athletes selection to the 2022 Asian Games, Nurul Huda said national women’s swimmer, Phee Jinq En will be put under Category A (fully funded) while six other men’s swimmer including 2023 SEA Games men’s 200 metre (m) freestyle champion, Khiew Hoe Yean will be listed under Category B (costs are covered by the association and refunded if they win a medal).
Meanwhile, Andy said three men’s divers – Ooi Tze Liang, Muhammad Syafiq Puteh and Gabriel Gilbert Daim – while women’s divers led by the diving queen, Datuk Pandelela Rinong, Nur Dhabitah Sabri and Wendy Ng Yan Yee will be under Category A for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Andy said the Hangzhou Asiad will also see four other men’s divers including 2023 SEA Games men’s 10m platform Enrique Maccartney Harold to be placed under Category B. – BERNAMA
