Siu Kent Chung (R) will be one of
the swimmers vying for a spot to
compete at the 10th FINA World
Swimming Championships in
Dubai, UAE. Picture: BT File

Brunei's top swimmers will be vying for a chance to compete at the 10th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Dubai, UAE, from Dec 15-19.

The time-trial for the four events on offer will be held, starting today until Sunday, at the Aquatics Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas.

The time trials are held coinciding with the 2nd MICIA Inter-Club Age Group Swimming Championship 2010.

The 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke will be contested today while the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle will be held tomorrow and on Sunday respectively.

Unsurprisingly, the names that spring to mind on who will most probably qualify for the championships are Amanda Liew Jia Xin and Siu Kent Chung, both of whom are top favourites to make it to the annual shortcourse competition.

Siu is in a hyped up mood after he won back-to-back titles as the Best Male Athlete at the 9th National Sports Festival (PSK) in July after capturing eight gold medals.

"I'm quite confident against the local swimmers and I believe that my chances are high in making it especially in my main event (backstroke)," said Siu, during an interview with The Brunei Times, yesterday.

"There will be other strong competitors such as Christian Nickles from RBRC (Royal Brunei Recreational Club). He's an up and coming swimmer and as usual Anderson (Lim Chee Wei) and Desmond (Lee Edward) will also be threats," he said.

However, the 21-year-old, who is currently pursuing his Higher National Diploma in Computing at Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB), has been tied down due to his study programme and has had limited time training.

"I'm currently doing my full-time work attachment which is part of my school programme. I usually only train for an hour or so after I get off work nowadays. My attachment will go on till the end of the year and I won't know if I can make it even if I manage to qualify," said Siu.

On the other hand, Liew, who was named the Best Female Athlete after bagging 14 gold medals at the 9th PSK, will not be participating in the time-trial as she is currently away at Kota Kinabalu for intensive training in preparations for the 1st Youth Olympic Games from August 14-26 in Singapore.

Only two swimmers will make the cut to represent the country in Dubai.

A total of 10 teams with an estimated number of 180 swimmers from Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore have registered for the competition organised by MICIA Aquatic Sports.

The swimmers will be divided into their respective Age Groups Group 1 (15-17 years old), Group 2 (13-14 years old), Group 3 (11-12 years old), Group 4 (9-10 years old) and Group 5 (eight and under).

The competition is aimed at providing a challenge to the local swimmers with the opportunity of going head to head against swimmers from neighbouring countries.

The first event will begin at 8.30am.

Courtesy from Brunei Times