Aaliyah bags three golds, one bronze to emerge overall champ in Moomba Masters

KUALA LUMPUR - Teenage water skier Aaliyah Yoong Hanifah emerged as the overall champion of the Moomba Masters Championships 2022 in Melbourne, Australia today.

The 18-year-old claimed gold in the tricks and jump events and bronze in slalom to be crowned overall champion in the championships, which was held at the Yarra River.

In the tricks event, she clinched gold with a two-day total of 6,780 points, followed by Australian Erica Hayes (5,690 pts) and Chile's Dominga Gonzalez (3,580 pts).

Buoyed, Aaliyah then claimed the jump gold in sensational style.

The teenager, who had set a new national record and personal best with a leap of 39.5 metres (m) in the first round yesterday, obliterated it when she cracked the 40m mark with a leap of 41.4m for the gold on Thursday.

American Elizabeth Hall (33.5m) came in second and Australian Kristy Appleton (30.9m) was third.

In slalom, Aaliyah, who was fifth after the first round, rose to the challenge with a clearance of 3/55/13 (three buoys/55kmh/13m rope) to finish behind Australians Lara Butlin (1/55/12) and Milla Hunter Bennett (4/55/13) respectively.

Aaliyah’s two gold and one bronze was enough to secure her the overall gold with a total score of 2,891.89 pts with Australian Bennet (2,032.98 pts) and Butlin (1,980.36 pts) in second and third, respectively.

"I love competing in the Moomba Masters and it’s definitely one of my favourite and one of my top events in the world

"I definitely love the challenge on the Yarra River and it is huge to get a personal best in jump in my 10th year here as 41.4m is definitely huge for me. This is definitely the climax of my junior career to have three wins and a bronze on this formidable course,” she said in a statement, yesterday.

Malaysian Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (MWWF) head coach Hanifah Yoong added that Aaliyah’s performance was definitely a surprise.

"She continues to surprise and her performance the past two days showed how strong she is now, both physically and mentally,” he said. - BERNAMA