KUALA LUMPUR (June 9, 2011): They say there is no place like home but for the Penang synchronised swimming team, there was no place to call home for a long time.
They had to go from venue to venue for nearly two years but the grit and determination showed by the swimmers paid dividends when the islanders bagged two gold medals in the 14th Malaysia Games (Sukma) at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil today.
The Penang team of Emanuelle Mah, Alyssa Izadora, Cheah Cheng Im, Kok Wan Ting, Leong Jie Xi Natassha Julian, Nikki Chuah, Tasha Jane, Yew Yun Han and Yew Yun Qing danced their way to the gold medals in the technical and free disciplines.
They performed to the 2010 South Africa Football World Cup official theme song "Waving Flag" for the technical routine in the morning, garnering 179.10 points to finish ahead of Negri Sembilan (172.16) and Kuala Lumpur (132.75).
Penang adopted the theme song from the hit movie Transformers for the free routine in the afternoon and finished with 71.50 points ahead of Negri (69.50) and Kuala Lumpur (65.83).
"We are thankful to everyone involved with the synchronised swimming programme back in our hometwon for helping us to make this possible," said Emanuelle. "We made a few mistakes but thankfully, things turned out okay," added the 16-year-old, who returned home a month ago to train together with the whole team and is hoping to win a spot in the SEA Games end of this year.
Synchronised swimming last took place when Negri hosted the Games in 2004. There will be two more gold medals at stake in solo disciplines (free and technical) tomorrow..
Results (all finals)
Team free: 1. Penang 71.50, 2. Negri Sembilan 69.50, 3. Kuala Lumpur 65.83.
Team technical: 1. Penang 179.10, 2. Negri Sembilan 172.16, 3. Kuala Lumpur 65.833.
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