PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian waterski and wakeboard team are shaping up nicely for the Asian Oceanian Championships, to be held in Perth, Australia, from Oct 7-12.
This is thanks to the presence of two experienced coaches – Frenchman Marian Malaquin and Englishman Luke Thomas.
The 34-year-old Malaquin, who is also the national coach of the French open waterski team, supervises young skiers Arianna Chow Sze Ai, Mohd Syahir Nasir and the Hanifah siblings – Aaliyah, Adam and Aiden Yoong.
The 24-year-old Thomas is a wakeboard coach based in Christchurch, New Zealand. He oversees Cheah Hsu Ann and Ariana Eimer, who are both entered for the wakeboard event in Perth.
Malaysia are banking on 11-year-old Aaliyah, fresh from winning the Open title in tricks at the Asian Cup in Makassar, Indonesia, to defend her Asian crown.
“This is a good team ... a young one, but they are on the right path. Everytime I come back to Malaysia, I see the team getting bigger,” said Malaquin, who is back for the sixth time in three years.
“In Europe, they start them young too, but Malaysia has an advantage because it’s hot weather all year round and the skiers don’t need to take a break for winter. I think the development here is better than in Indonesia because it is more centralised and training can be coordinated easily.
“Aaliyah is pretty good but Arianna is catching up very fast. It’s good to see them motivate each other. Syahir is also improving fast as well although it is tough in slalom as a lot of physical strength is needed.”
The team will leave for Perth on Monday.
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