Teenager Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah has been invited again to participate in 2019 Moomba Masters held in the city of Melbourne scheduled for the 6th to the 11th of March 2019.
This will be the 7th appearance in the Moomba Masters for the 15 year old Aaliyah who made her debut in 2013 when she was a mere 9 year old competing in the junior Moomba for U18 girls.
Aaliyah had ascended the podium three times in the junior Moomba girls tricks event when she finished 2nd in 2014, 2nd again in 2015 and 3rd in 2017. Her highest placement in the pro-women tricks event was 8th.
She is looking forward to get up on the junior girls podium again this year in another 2 disciplines of jump and overall besides her pet event of tricks. Aaliyah is seeded no. 2 in girls tricks, no. 4 in girls jump and no. 12 in girls slalom.
In pro-women tricks Aaliyah is seeded no. 12 in a star studded field which include 8 present and past world champions. World champions invited for the pro women tricks include Erika Lang and Anna Gay from USA, Neilly Ross & Whitney McClintock from Canada, Natallia Bernikava from Belarus, Jacinta Carroll from Australia.
For warm up Aaliyah is also slotted to participate in the 2019 Oceanian championships scheduled for the 2nd and 3rd March in Latrobe city 2 hours out of Melbourne. Her siblings Aiden Yoong Hanifah, 13 and 2017 SEA Games gold medallist, Adam Yoong Hanifah, 11 will join Aaliyah in the Oceanian championships.
The 3 Malaysian national waterski athletes will depart for Melbourne with their coach and father Hanifah Yoong next week on the 26 February.
Hanifah said, “Aaliyah has improved in all her 3 disciplines of tricks, slalom & jump in training past months. Especially so in jump which will put her in a strong position to have two chances for world championship podiums besides tricks in the years to come,”
“The near term target is for her to be a junior world champion in 2020 but Aaliyah has to juggle his waterski career with her studies as this year is also her IGCSE exam year for the year 11 student of Nexus International School in Putrajaya.”
Aaliyah agrees it’s tough for her this year but, “I am going to try not to compromise my studies just for the sport and will very work hard in both. I am not alone in this as all young athletes on the way up go through this phase of important exams in schools.”
