Waterski siblings Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah, Aiden Yoong Hanifah and Adam Yoong Hanifah will be looking to rewrite some national records after a two-week stint in Florida.
The trio have spent the last two weeks training at the renowned Cory Pickos ski school at Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.
They have performed above their personal bests during training and the Florida Inboards Record tournament this weekend will be the perfect test for them.
The 14-year-old Aaliyah will be looking to better at least one of her three records from slalom, jump and her pet event – tricks.
The triple SEA Games gold medallist has never failed to rewrite her tricks record every year.
She currently holds a personal best of 7,600 points achieved during the Asian Oceanian Championships in Australia last year while she also holds the Asian record of 7,250 points.
In slalom, she will look to do better than the 0.5/55/12 she achieved during last year’s Florida meet and she also has her sights on bettering the 32.8m jump record she achieved en route to winning gold at the SEA Games last year.
For 10-year-old Adam, the Florida event will hold fond memories for him.
He first broke Alex Yoong’s former record of 3,830 points with a score of 3,920 in last year’s meet, aged just nine.
The SEA Games gold medallist has now gone one step further when he scored 4,430 during the Latrobe International in Melbourne in March.
Adam will however need to look out for his older brother Aiden, 12, who has been on a dry streak in tournaments.
Aiden has a higher scoring trick run and now that he is free from injuries and illness, it is not impossible to top Adam’s current record score.
Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) head coach Hanifah Yoong however believes that scoring high in training will not necessarily equal to a good scoring run in tournaments.
“It will be a different kettle of fish. They only have one or two chances in the weekend and it will all depend on the conditions of the wind and the weather,” said Hanifah.
After the meet, the team will continue training at the Cory Pickos site for a further two weeks.
They will head to Callaway Gardens, Atlanta after that where Aaliyah is invited to compete in the prestigious Nautique Waterski US Masters from May 25-27.
