Katrina Sizzles In The Pool

Katrina Ann Abdul Hadi choreographed her moves to Lindsey Stirling’s ‘River Flows in You’ on her way to the gold. 

TOP national synchronised swimmer Katrina Ann Abdul Hadi showed no signs of being troubled by her old right wrist injury as she defended her technical solo’s gold medal in a convincing manner today.

The 20-year-old Selangor lass was simply a class above the rest of the field as she amassed a total score of 75.64 to defeat fellow national squad teammate Tasha Jane Tasha Ali (70.24) of Penang and Kuala Lumpur’s Jacqueline Ng Siew Fong (65.24).

She choreographed her moves to Lindsey Stirling’s hauntingly beautiful tune ‘River Flows in You’ and proved to be a delight to watch, as her graceful actions and motion saw her glide through the water with hardly a ripple.

“There is no problem whatsoever with my wrist, it has healed completely since February,” said the winner of five gold medals at the 2011 Palembang SEA Games.

“I would love to conclude my final SUKMA appearance with a bang.

“I could remember when I made my debut in 2004 in Negri Sembilan; I was on double duty for Selangor and eventually won a gold in synchronised swimming and silver in gymnastics – both team events.

“I’m going for one more when I’m back to the pool with Zylane (Lee Yhing Huey) for duet technical tomorrow.”

Katrina with Zylane Lee Yhing Huey.

Zylane, on the other hand, retained her gold medal after pipping arch-rival from Penang, Emanuelle Mah Thil Da – just like two years ago in the free solo’s event to give Selangor a double joy.

She garnered 74.20 points compared to Emanuelle’s 69.90. Foong Yan-Nie (66.20) of Kuala Lumpur was third.

Katrina, Zylane, Emanuelle and Tasha – all members of national team – are allowed to compete only in two events. Emanuelle will partner Tasha for the duet free tomorrow.

Without the four, it paved way for more exciting competition in the team technical event, which was won by Negri.

The team led by national squad member Gan Zhen Yu, amassed 70.90 to exact sweet revenge over the previous edition champions Penang (69.70), who were clearly missing the absence of talismanic Emanuelle and Tasha, beating them by a mere 1.2 points.

Kuala Lumpur took the bronze with 69.00 points.

Negri’s Chinese coach Hu Shuxia, who trained the team for seven years could not hide her delight following the win.

Shuxia, who is also a former national coach for three years, said: “It was a hard fought victory. The girls have finally earned the victory they deserved, I’m happy for them.

“It was the exactly the same line-up that lost to Penang two years ago in both team technical and team free. They were so determined to be the better team this year and they have done it.”