: : WATERSKI & WAKEBOARD WORLD CUP SDN. BHD. : :

AALIYAH YOONG MOVES UP TO TOP 70 IN WORLD RANKING

Following 9-year old Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah’s fine performance of improving her personal best score to 4740 points in last weekend’s IWWF Waterski World Cup in Palembang, she has now moved up in the world rankings for Open Women Tricks from top 100 to top 70.  

She also moved up to 18^th in the world rankings for U17 Girls Tricks from 29^th before the World Cup.

“This augurs well for her bid to become one of the best skiers in the world before she is 15. Her main target is the Asian Championship in Palembang this year and then for next year she will focus on getting a top 5, if not a podium, in the Junior World Championships for U17 to be held in Ukraine,” said Hanifah Yoong, Aaliyah ‘s father who is her coach .

Her mentor Clementine Lucine of France who is the current world record holder for Women Tricks and who also won in the World Cup last weekend, was full of praise for Aaliyah.

 “It is not easy to achieve a personal best score in a top flight event like the World Cup,” said Clementine.

“To be able to better her personal best in two top flight events in the past three months shows that she has her head firmly on her shoulder. She will go far.” added Clementine.

Aaliyah, a Nexus International School student who turns 10 in July this year, will participate in the Malaysian Nationals on the 25-26 May to be held in Putrajaya before going to France and Austria in Europe at the end of June for training and to compete in the Meuzac Cup in France and the Fischlham Cup in Austria.

AALIYAH BETTERS HER SCORE AGAIN TO 8^TH SPOT IN THE JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP’S FINALS!

Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah delivered what she promised by bettering her personal best score of 4,410 points achieved in the preliminary round last Thursday with a stunning 4,710 points in the finals this morning.

She also finished one better with 8^th at the finals of the girls under 17 tricks event at the IWWF Junior World Waterski Championships for under 17 boys and girls in Mulwala, Australia this week.

In the process she again bettered her own national women tricks record and the IWWF Asian junior girls tricks record for under 17 girls set only 2 days ago in the preliminary round.  `

With these consistent scores and showing her aptitude to tackle the demands of a world level event despite her tender age at 9 (going on to 10 in July 16, 2013), Aaliyah has impressed the world’s best coaches attending the championship. They described her as being a strong challenger for the world titles in the years to come as well as a young lady with nerves of steel and unafraid of the pressure of top level international competition.

The winner of girls trick with a new world record score of 8,850 points is 17 year old Erika Lang of USA who is expected to begin her career in professional waterskiing and join the world’s elite skiers challenging for the open world titles in the immediate coming years. This is Erika’s first world title after 2 other attempts in 2010 in France and 2008 in Peru. Second is the highly promising 11 year old Neilly Ross from Canada who scored 6.480 points to push Natalia Cuglievan, 15, of Peru into 3^rd spot.

Asked how she felt just before her finals runs, Aaliyah responded, “I was not nervous at all and I just felt all ready to get into the water to give my best,”

“The practice yesterday which my father arranged was really good as I was starting to lose my focus with 2 days not being on the water and I must thank my sister Pipa for helping me in the warm up before the final runs today.” she added.

Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation’s Vice President, Phillipa Yoong who attended the world championships as one of the 14 jury members judging the event said in response to Aaliyah’s accomplishment, “This is an all round wonderful story for Malaysian waterski as Aaliyah’s fine performance in her very first Junior Worlds is bound to spur on the many young Malaysian trainees we have in our fold. The future looks very good for Malaysia to reach world class standards in waterski.”

Aaliyah is sponsored by Perbadanan Putrajaya, the National Sports Council of Malaysia, Nautique Boats, Nexus International School and WWWC for her 2013 campaign which will see her competing in 8 events internationally in Australia, Indonesia, France and Malaysia this year.

Mulwala, Australia – Thursday 21 Feb 2013: Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah has done Malaysia proud once again when she became the youngest water skier to enter the finals of the IWWF Junior World Championships for under 17 boys and girls.

She did it in style to also better her national women tricks record  and the IWWF Asian junior girls tricks record for under 17 girls with a score of 4410 points in the preliminary round at Mulwala, Australia this morning.

She shocked the mostly 15 to 17 year olds comprising 25 girls from 15 countries when she did a ninth best score of 4410 points to make her way comfortably into the finals for only 12 girls.

Leading the pack was Erika Lang of USA followed by compatriot Anna Gay and Natalia Cuglievan of Peru. These three will fight for podium spots along with 4^th best finisher Neilly Ross of Canada and Brooke Baldwin of USA.

Via a news release from the tournament site in Mulwala, nine year old Aaliyah said, “I am so grateful for so much support from Malaysia and from other parts of the world

as well. This made me wanting to do my best each time I get into the water. The job is not done yet. Now I want to be amongst the best 10 under 17 girls in the world on Sunday’s finals.”

Hanifah Yoong, his father and coach who accompanied Aaliyah to the world championships remarked that he had every confidence in Aaliyah to keep to her word but if it doesn’t happen she will still be loved by all in her family. She has time in her hands, saying, “She stands at only 4’ 4” tall and weighs a mere 28kg but she has a heart of an ox in competition. It is only important for us that she continues enjoying training and competing without anyone needing to push her to do it.”

The finals for girls tricks will be run at 6.30am (Malaysian time) on Sunday 24 Feb 2013 and for those who are interested to follow live results go to: http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/competition.php?cc=T-12IWWF05&page=live

Aaliyah is sponsored by Perbadanan Putrajaya, the National Sports Council of Malaysia, Nautique Boats, Nexus International School and WWWC for her 2013 campaign which will see her competing in 8 events internationally in Australia, Indonesia, France and Malaysia this year.

Despite having to punch above her weight in the under-17 competition, the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) is confident Aaliyah will reach her first final in an event of such level after impressing at the national trials last week.

The 9-year old recorded a personal best of 4,800 points at the trials to better her previous best of 4,220 which she set at the Asian Championships in South Korea last year.

"We have been looking to see her move up a level before this event and are happy that she was very impressive at the trials we had before Marian (Malaquin) left last week," said Norzeela.

"Our target is to have her make the final (top-12) in the tricks event in Muwala and with her being able to hit 4,800 relatively consistently things are looking good. There are many factors which could affect things on the day, however, based on past records (in the competition) she should be able to make the final with her current level of ability."

Norzeela added that Aaliyah will have to adapt quickly to the much colder climate as well as the shallow depths of the Max Kirwan Lakes if she is to do well at the event.

"From what we have heard the lakes there are much shallower than what we have here in Putrajaya and that will be a challenge for Aaliyah," said Norzeela.

"This (shallowness) will likely force us to run the boat at a slower speed to help with buoyancy. We have simulated such conditions with Aaliyah here with her practicing in a wet suit (for cold conditions) and a running slower pace. She will, however, have to get used to the real conditions there as soon as  possible as she only has tomorrow (today) to practice."

"This is important as she will only have two runs in the preliminaries on Tuesday (tomorrow) to get the score she needs."

Aaliyah left for Muwala yesterday and was accompanied by MWWF executive secretary Hanifah Yoong, who is also her father. The final of the event, should Aaliyah qualify, will be held on Sunday.

The Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) believes it has discovered 3 talented youngsters who are on par or may even outshine nine-year-old prodigy Aaliyah Yoong in the future.

MWWF executive secretary Hanifah Yoong said the trio, Nurulanis Mohd Isa, Arianna Chow both 11, and seven-year-old Aiden Yoong, Aaliyah's younger brother, only joined the federations training programme in November, but have been quick to impress.

"They only have recently join our programme, having no formal training beforehand, but have progressed at amazing pace," said Hanifah.

"We have kept a detailed record of Aaliyah's training record since she started and having compared their (trio's) performance in training compared to Aaliyah's (during the same phase), they have managed to consistently outscore her.

They have great potential and if they can dedicate themselves to the sport with support of their parents, I am confident they will be able to go on to achieve great success within the next few years.

"This is also great news for MWWF's 10-year programme to develop a world champion as we cannot put all  our hopes on Aaliyah alone."

Hanifah added that Nurulanis and Arianna will compete in the Asian Championships in Indonesia in September to give them exposure on the international stage, but will first be tested at the National Championships in Putrajaya in May.

"Based on the current level of performance they have shown, I believe all three will do well at the National Championships," said Hanifah.

"We will definitely be sending Nurulanis and Arianna to compete in Indonesia. We will have to wait and see how Aiden progresses as he is much younger.

"Due to their age they will be competing in the tricks category. We do not expect them to deliver any medals as this will be their first competition abroad."

Hanifah said Shamal Norman and the Yoong siblings Alex and Phillipa as well as Aaliyah will likely make up the rest of the squad competing at the Asian Championships.

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