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Despite the absence of Arianna Chow, who missed the Games in Phuket with an injury, the team totalled 3224.08 points from both the slalom and tricks events.

It is still a creditable finish for a Malaysian team made up of teenagers, with only 11-year-old Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah and 16-year-old Syahir Nasir contributing points in the slalom event.

Aaliyah also had the pleasure of defeating nemesis Jiang Hui of China again in the final of the women’s tricks event.

Aaliyah, who finished with a silver in the individual event and achieved a new personal best of 6,130 points on Friday, piled up 5,120 points ahead of Jiang Hui, who only managed 3,690 points.

The triumph means Aaliyah has bested the 22-year-old Chinese in three out of their four meetings in Phuket.

Aaliyah’s nine-year-old brother Aiden also made a good contribution by setting a new personal best of 2,820 points in the men’s tricks event final.

The strong showing and improvements by the skiiers augur well ahead of the SEA Games in Singapore next June.

In the wakeboard category, Malaysia’s Cheah Hsu Ann and Jeff Oh helped the team to seventh placing.

Taken from http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Other-Sport/2014/11/22/Young-Malaysian-skiers-go-fourth-in-Asian-Beach-Games/

Just one day after missing out on a gold medal at the Asian Beach Games in Phuket, Aaliyah made amends by breaking her own personal best in the women’s team tricks event on Friday.

Aaliyah went to Phuket with two goals in mind – win a gold medal and rewrite her personal record of 5,920 points.

Despite settling for silver in the women’s tricks event behind China’s Jiang Hui on Thursday, Aaliyah was back at her best once again – delivering an outstanding performance to rack up 6,130 points in the team preliminaries.

This is a new Asian Under-17 record for the pint-sized Aaliyah – and a huge achievement for someone so young.

“It is almost better than winning a gold medal with a score under 6,000 points,” said Aaliyah.

Despite Aaliyah’s efforts, Malaysia stand a very slim chance of grabbing a medal as 13-year-old Arianna Chow was forced to miss the event after suffering an injury during training two weeks ago.

“In a team event, the final points are contributed by team members with the best three scores in tricks. It is very much an individual performance but the overall score will not be good enough without Arianna,” said Malaysian Water Ski and Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) head coach Hanifah Yoong.

Taken from http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Other-Sport/2014/11/21/Aaliyah-back-to-her-best-in-Asian-Beach-Games/

The teenager bagged her fourth straight Asian Under-17 title but missed out on defending her Asian Open category tricks event crown in Perth on Thursday.

The 11-year-old Aaliyah, who led the way in the first round of the Open category tricks event, fell 40 points short in her title defence as she could only manage 4,190 points in windy conditions to settle for the silver.

Because it is a joint championship between the Asian and Oceanian federations, 13-year-old Malaysian skier Arianna Chow, who finished fourth in the Open category, also picked up a bronze courtesy of being the top three Asian competitors.

Aaliyah made amends for the silver by winning the Under-17 category of the tricks event, leading Malaysia to a one-two finish en route to her fourth straight Asian Under-17 title.

Aaliyah took the gold with a 5,850 total while Arianna was second on 3,870 points.

Aaliyah’s younger brother – eight-year-old Aiden – also finished strongly in the Under-17 tricks event, with 2,250 points to take home a silver behind Indonesia’s Suprihono Dimas Ridho (3,170).

Taken from http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Other-Sport/2014/10/10/Aaliyah-bags-Asian-Under17-waterskiing-title-in-Perth/

BY KNG ZHENG GUAN

The Malaysian waterski team is about to wrap up it’s week long centralised training at Putrajaya in preparation for the 2014 IWWF Asian Oceanian Championships.  

The biennal Asian Australasian championships will be held in Perth, Australia from 7^th to the 12^th October 2014 with the team departing on the 6^th October.

Two international coaches were employed by the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation to oversee the final preparations. Marian Malaquin from France is training the skiers in slalom, tricks & jump while Luke Thomas from Britain looked after the wakeboarders.

They are both happy with the performances of the athletes who had concentrated in getting their runs and jumps more consistent in the past week.

Spearheading the team will be Malaysia’s 11-year old SEA Games champion, Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah, who will defend her current Asian Open Women tricks title which she won at Asian Championship in 2013 when it was held in Jakarta.

Other members of the 8-member strong team are Arianna Chow 13 (tricks, slalom & jump), Syahir Nasir 16 (slalom, jump & tricks), Jeff Oh 14 (wakeboard), Ariana Eimer 10 (wakeboard), Cheah Hsu Ann 26 (wakeboard) and Aaliyah’s two younger brothers Aiden 9 and Adam 7 who are both entered for the tricks event.

Team Manager, Hanifah Yoong, said, “This team is an incredibly young team with the average age of only 13. This is because we are focussing on the younger athletes to build continuity for the future to follow Aaliyah’s route towards the top of the world in waterski & wakeboard,”

“This is the first major regional championship which the team does not comprise Malaysia’s veteran skiing stars of Phillipa Yoong who had retired last year and her brother Alex Yoong who is very busy with work commitments.” Hanifah added.

“For the Asian Oceanian championships, we are looking towards Aaliyah Yoong, Arianna Chow & Syahir Nasir to bring back the medals while the others are participating to gain experience as part of our development plan.”

Following the Asian Oceanian championships the team will resume training to participate in the next tournament which is the 4^th Asian Beach Games in November to be held in Phuket, Thailand.

The Malaysia team’s trip is supported in part by the National Sports Council of Malaysia, Perbadanan Putrajaya and Waterski & Wakeboard World Cup Sdn Bhd,  while contributions from the athletes or their families made up the balance of funding.

Asian Cup Women Trick Finalists

The 11-year-old, the reigning Asian champion and youngest-ever Malaysian SEA Games gold medallist, qualified for the final in first place with a score of 4,330 points on Sunday.

Up-and-coming youngster Arianna Chow clinched the bronze for Malaysia. The 13-year-old Arianna, who only started training with the Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) two years ago, scored 3,410 points.

Aaliyah, however, was unable to finish on the podium in the women’s slalom. She was placed eighth.

Aaliyah, the world No. 8 in the Under-17 category, will now prepare for the Asian Oceanian Championships in Perth, Australia, from Oct 5-12.

Besides Aaliyah and Arianna, Malaysia will also send 16-year-old Syahir Nasir, eight-year-old Aiden Yoong Hanifah and six-year-old Adam Yoong Hanifah to compete in the water-skiing events. Two others – Cheah Hsu Ann and Arianna Eimer – will compete in the women’s wakeboard event.

Taken from http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Other-Sport/2014/09/08/Little-Aaliyah-too-good-in-Asian-Cup-waterskiing-meet/
BY KNG ZHENG GUAN

All three Malaysian skiers have now improved their World and Asian rankings further. Well done!

Organised by the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (MWWF), 10 year old Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah won the Open Women's Tricks.

Gold for Indonesia came through Indra Hardinata in Open Men's Slalom, Galuh Mutiara Mauldina in Open Women's Wakeboard and Jump while veteran Maliki Zulkarnain won a gold in the Open Men's Tricks.

Thailand picked up their gold medals through Padiwat Jaemjan (Open Men's Wakeboard), Pattanan Pamonpol (Intermediate Women's Wakeboard) and Thierry Grappe (boys U-12 mini slalom)

Singapore bagged their sole gold medal through Kalya Kee in Open  Women's Slalom.

Britain's Owen Huish, who attends school in Malaysia, won 2 gold medals in Intermediate Men's Wakeboard and Novice Slalom, while Japan picked up a gold medal in the Open Men's Jump courtesy of Masaaki Hamada.

Austria and New Zealand claimed the other 2 gold medals in the 18-event tournament through Peter Glaeser (senior men's slalom) and Karen De Lacy (novice women's slalom) respectively.

Putrajaya Corporation president Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat officiated the prize presentation ceremony along with the president of the Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation, Datuk Lee Teck Yuen.

A total prize money purse of RM10,000 will be up for grabs in this IWWF homologated "Ranking List" event.

Please request for entry forms and hotel booking forms at special rates at the Pullman Putrajaya by emailing MWWF's Hanifah Yoong at hanifah@waterski.com.my by stating full name, country and handphone number.

This event is held in conjunction with the 2014 IWWF Coaching & Judging Development Seminar to be held from 24-27 April 2014 in the Pullman Putrajaya Hotel.

More details will be available from time to time at our FB page or at www.waterski.com.my - see you all at the event!

Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (MWWF)

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She is seeded 8th out of 13 skiers invited to the Moomba Masters Open Women Tricks event. This means she is considered 8th best out of these 13 cream of world trick skiers from 8 countries. 

She will need to ski as good as she did yesterday to get a chance to progress into the finals which will be held on Monday bank holiday of 10 March 2014 said her father Hanifah Yoong who coaches her and is in Melbourne with Aaliyah. 

Fans of waterski in Malaysia can access live results at: http://www.iwwfed-ea.org/competition.php?cc=T-14AUS326&page=TimeTable and also view live webcast at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/moomba-masters-2013---melbourne to catch Aaliyah in action on Saturday 8th March at 11.15am (8.15am Malaysian Time).

Malaysian Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) announced this morning that their top women water-skier, Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah, had received an invitation to one of the most famous professional waterski tournament, the 2014 Moomba Masters to be held in the city centre of Melbourne in Australia on the 5^th to 10^th of March.

Aaliyah, who can hardly be called a woman, will only turn 11 on the 16^th of July this year, thus became the youngest competitor ever to be invited to a top notch pro waterski tournament.

Last year she became the youngest water-skier to be invited for the Junior Moomba for the world’s top under-17 water-skiers. The Junior Moomba is run in the 2 days before the start of each year’s main Moomba Masters. She qualified for the finals and finished 7^th in her debut in the U17 Junior Moomba last year.

The invitation came as a surprise to Aaliyah who exclaimed, “I never expected to be invited for the Moomba Masters this soon although I was looking forward to participating with the cream of the world in a few years’ time,”

“Wow, this is totally way out for me and I hope I can maintain my composure competing with multiple world champions like Clementine Lucine and Erika Lang and the lot!” she added.

The current Malaysian, S.E.Asian and Asian champion is not new to big events as she had been on the international circuit since 2010 when she as a tiny tot at 7 competed in her first international, the 2010 Asian Championship in Jakarta.

She is also currently ranked 54^th in the world amongst open women and 15^th in the world for under 17 girls.

MWWF’s technical advisor and executive secretary Hanifah Yoong who is also one of Aaliyah’s coaches together with her half-sister Phillipa Yoong does not expected her to finish on the podium in her debut in the Moomba Masters but hopes that she will put up a credible performance, saying, “Her time to win will come later but for now the good news is that she can gain much experience from this very high profile world event which is watched by more than a 100,000 spectators lined up on the banks of the Yarra river in the centre of Melbourne in the Moomba Festival.”

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