National waterskiing ace Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah has certainly gone under the radar in recent times due to study commitments in America.
But the 21-year-old is set to make her presence felt once again as she returns home to headline the National Championships that will be held at the Putrajaya Water Sports Complex from Aug 17-18.
The event, which is titled the Malaysia Ski & Wake Championships will include regional competitors from Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
In fact, a total of 60 competitors have entered the various disciplines of slalom, tricks, jump, wakeboard and wakesurf.
And Aaliyah, the Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) star scholar & ambassador who is pursuing her degree in psychology at the Florida Southern College (FSC), will be looking to up her game once more while providing an inspiration boost to her fellow Malaysian competitors.
“It’s nice to be home and I am hoping to put in some good performances, not necessarily in terms of getting personal bests but rather to put decent scores to maintain my world rankings,” said Aaliyah.
“My rankings had certainly taken a slight dip due to my need to concentrate on my university exams and this weekend is certainly a time for me to step up my performance once again.”
The last world events Aaliyah had competed in were the 2022 World Games in Alabama, USA where she emerged 3rd in women tricks and the 2023 U21 World Championships in Chapala, Mexico where she was 3rd in women jump.
Aaliyah currently holds a PB of 8,450 in tricks, which is also an Asian record, and PBs of 48.3m in jump and 4.5/12/55 in slalom.
Meanwhile the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) are hoping to gauge newcomers in their fold against competitors in the region as part of their SEA Games preparation.
“We have two 14-year-old girls in Chloe Bayly and Madilynn Tan as well as a 13-year-old boy, Aydan Noah, who have been training with us for the past year,” explained MWWF Hon.Secretary Hanifah Yoong.
“As such, we love to see what kind of progress they have made in the competition this weekend.
“With regional skiers also taking part, we will also be able to measure our strength in relation to our SEA Games rivals.
“We should be still ahead in the womens’ categories of slalom, tricks and jump through Aaliyah but we are not so sure about our men’s team when placed against the Indonesians.”
The men’s team will include Aaliyah’s brothers – Aiden and Adam and Syahir Nasir.
Meanwhile the MWWF have also added free powerboat rides for 5 to 12-year-olds on Sunday afternoon.
Registration for the free powerboat rides will start from 2pm at the grandstand of the Putrajaya Water Sports Complex. Her fans will also have a chance to catch Aaliyah for selfies or photo sessions as well as to pose any questions to her.
The event runs on both days of Saturday 17 Aug with finals on Sunday 18 Aug from 8.30am to 4pm. Admission is free of charge.
The 2024 Malaysia Ski & Wake Championships is supported by the Youth and Sports Ministry, Perbadanan Putrajaya, WWWC and Mercure Hotel Putrajaya.
