CHII LIN’S QUEST

KOTA KINABALU: The Youth and Sports Minister Peter Pang En Yin was brimming with pride for Sabah’s swimming ace Leung Chii Lin who will leave the state capital today for Kuala Lumpur then to Beijing for the August Olympics.

It was a great achievement for the 17-year-old Chii Lin to qualify for the summer showcase. And the minister knows that she will be pitted against the awesome powers of world class swimmers in her pet event, the 50m freestyle.

Pang, who was represented by his permanent secretary Michael Emban, presented a cash incentive of RM3,000 to the Sabahan.

Chii Lin incidentally is only the second Sabahan swimmer to qualify for the Olympics after Helen Chou did it 20 years ago! Chii Lin qualified with a time of 26.18s in May.

In Pang’s address read by Emban, he stressed that Chii Lin qualified through sheer hard work and the systematic training lay out by coach Alex Lim Keng Liat, who himself was a three-time Olympic qualifier.

“I am happy and proud of her achievement and can only pray and hope that she continues to bring pride and honour to Sabah and Malaysia in general,” Alex said.

“I also hope that with the incentive from the ministry through the Sabah Sports Council (SSC), the cash injection can boost her morale for her August 9 splash in the pool!

“Since the announcement of a RM1 million reward by the National Sports Council (NSC) for a gold medal, every Sabahan will be rooting for Chii Lin to be the first Malaysian athlete to bring home the ever elusive gold medal,” the coach added.

“We will be keeping our fingers crossed that she won’t be a victim to injuries as this is our major concern,” Alex added.

Chii Lin will undergo final stages of centralised training in Kuala Lumpur where she will be under the wings of national coach Paul Thomas.

From there she will leave for her big showdown on August 3. A modest Chii Lin says she will give her level best even though the world record of 23.9s is far from her personal best of 26.18s.

“I will certainly train very hard within these remaining days. What I am looking for is to break my own national record,” she said.

Chii Lin has also been promised cash incentives which she will receive during her training at the national capital.

She also thanked the ministry, the SSC, and the Sabah Sports Board for their utmost support in making her dream come true in qualifying for the Olympics.