Petrina Cup the perfect tune-up for gymnasts ahead of Thailand event

One for the album: National team head coach Petrina Low (left) posing with her academy students and officials after a press conference. — LOW BOON TAT/The Star

PETALING JAYA: The Petrina Cup will be the perfect platform for national athletes to limber up before the Thailand SEA Games in December.

The second edition of the competition is set to be held at the Spice Arena in Penang from Nov 18-23, and will be timely for the team to make final adjustments before the SEA Games from Dec 9-20.

National team head coach Petrina Low said the tournament will be used to finalise the list of athletes who will compete in Thailand. “The tournament will be the final preparation before the SEA Games,” said Petrina during the press conference at the Sentosa Rhythmic Excellence Academy yesterday.

“We are still having controlled testing with our athletes, so the list has not been finalised yet.

“The tournament will be another time for us to evaluate everyone.”

Petrina added that the team will be heading to China next week for a tournament, which would also serve as a good preparation stint as they would be competing against some of the world’s top gymnastics teams.

They will then return for the Petrina Cup, where over 700 athletes from as young as age five are expected to arrive from 15 different countries for the competition.

With an increase in participation this year, Petrina said it shows the growth of the sport in Malaysia, thus the decision to hold the tournament yearly as compared to the previous plan of it being a biennial event.

“Seeing the rise locally is definitely a very encouraging thing, especially in just the second edition of the tournament.

“I’m very happy because it really shows the popularity of the sport and the growth in the country.

“In the beginning, I planned to hold this competition every two years, but seeing it being so popular, I will have it again in July next year,” she said.

Petrina added that the event will also see the presence of the International Gymnastics Federation’s rhythmic gymnastics technical committee president, Noha Abou Shabana.