Home Sweet pool

Five-star swimmer Daniel prefers to train in Malaysia


KAMARUZAMAN AHMAD
KUALA LUMPUR: Hailed as the best athlete in the 2009 Laos Sea Games, national swimmer Daniel Bego claims that there is "no place like home".

Daniel Bego

The 20-year-old Daniel from Sarawak said he prefers to train in Malaysia which he feels is the best place to thrive on his swimming career.

"I feel the best place is ‘home sweet home’ and I'm not thinking of training overseas even if asked to do so. This will also help save the taxpayers’ money.

"There are no plans yet for overseas training. I want to train in Malaysia. We have all the facilities and a team of good coaches. Why waste all that?

“To be able to perform well I need to train harder and compete in international competitions.

However, I'll leave it to my coach Paul Birmingham to have the final say. It is still early to say anything about my preparations for future meets especially the Asian and Commonwealth Games,” he said.
Daniel added that training in Malaysia would also enable him to juggle his studies — as an A-levels student at a private university college — and swimming. He considered the Laos Sea Games as a major turning point in his swimming career.

Daniel,who won five gold medals, was able to redeem himself after a poor performance in the 2007 Korat Games where he only won two gold medals out of a possible five due to high fever. His main goal is to do well in the Asian and Commonwealth Games in Guangzhou and New Delhi respectively next year.

It will also mark his second appearance in both the multiple sports events. On merit, Daniel deserves an overseas training stint to hone his skills in the pool further following his outstanding performance at the Laos Games. He rewrote three national records in the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle.

To put icing on the cake, the times recorded in these three races and in the 100m butterfly were new Sea Games records. He also won gold in 200m butterfly to take his tally to five and a bronze in the relay men’s 4x200m freestyle relay.