PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian swimming team were caught by surprise with coach Eric Anderson announcing his resignation just days after returning from the SEA Games campaign in Thailand.
Anderson will no longer be coaching the national swimming team as the Canadian has mutually agreed with Malaysia Aquatics to conclude his appointment by Dec 31 as he seeks greener pastures abroad.
Malaysia Aquatics yesterday confirmed Eric’s departure, thanking him for his contributions and service to Malaysian swimming and wish him well in his future endeavours.
Anderson, who was previously coaching top Danish club Swim Team Odense, came on board to take charge of the national swimming team set-up a year ago and helped the swimmers to conclude the recent Thailand SEA Games campaign on a positive note.
The swimming team won two gold, three silver and five bronze medals, a marked improvement from the 1-3-4 collected at the 2023 Cambodia Games and 1-4-2 at the 2022 Vietnam Games.
More significantly, it was the first time since the 2019 edition in the Philippines that Malaysia won more than one gold medal in swimming and five national records were broken.
But that is also his last job with the Malaysian swimming team.
“After an intense but deeply meaningful chapter, Malaysia Aquatics and I have mutually agreed to part ways following the SEA Games.
“It’s been a privilege to work with so many dedicated athletes, coaches and staff, and be part of performances that I know meant a lot - from SEA Games success to international results on the world stage and too many national records to count.
“I’m proud of the progress made and deeply respect the commitment shown by the athletes who showed up everyday and gave everything they had.
“Coaching at this level demands a lot and this period has also given me clarity about how I want to contribute to the sport going forward.
“I’m excited to step into the next phase - focusing on high performance consulting, coach education and development work across the region,” said Anderson.
Malaysia Aquatics secretary Andy Low said they will begin the process immediately to find a replacement for Anderson.
“Hopefully we will be able to get a new coach to come in by end of February at the earliest.
“We will continue to strengthen the national high performance programme in preparation for upcoming international competitions,” he said.
The major assignments for the swimmers will be the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (July 23-Aug 2) and the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya (Sept 19-Oct 4).
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