Phuket Sports: Dive into TSLC

PHUKET: Thanyapura Sports and Leisure Club (TSLC) welcomes some of Asia’s most prolific rising sport stars from Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and mainland China to compete alongside local swimmers in the 2013 Thanyapura Long Course Swim Championships this weekend.

The competition takes place at Thanyapura’s world-class Olympic-standard Aquatics Center.

“We are excited to be hosting yet another of Asia’s sporting events aimed at young people here at Thanyapura. We really believe in inspiring the young athletes of today in their pursuit of sporting excellence and that is exactly what is achieved by hosting these international events. Also, we are proud to be drawing worldwide attention to Phuket, strengthening Thailand’s global reputation as a major sports destination,” said Thanyapura President Robert Hauck.

This latest event at Thanyapura has attracted some of the biggest sports names in the Asia-Pacific region, including the ex-coach of the Australian Swim Team and former director of swimming at the Singapore Swimming Association, John Dempsey, who has previously coached a number of high-profile swimmers, such as 200 meter butterfly world record holder Jessica Schipper, who will also be in attendance as the coach of the Hong Kong-based Ladies Recreation Club.

Presenting the awards will be world-renowned coach Roly Crichton from England, who is now based in New Zealand and has coached one of the most successful Paralympic swimmers of all time, Sophie Pascoe, winner of six gold and four silver medals at the Beijing and London Olympics.

“Once again, we will be seeing some really promising swimmers here at the Aquatics Academy, including 13-year-old Francesca Ho Ching Leung from Hong Kong, who is a very exciting up-and-coming swimmer, leading the way in all of her events. Also heading up the field in every event with some potentially very fast swimming is 19-year-old Filipino talent Daniel Gian Berino,” elaborates Thanyapura’s director of aquatics, Simon Jones.

Among the teams taking part will be the Aquatics Academy’s own resident junior swim team ‘Silverfinz’, as well as TSLC’s CSR project ‘Team Extreme’ – six young aspiring athletes from local schools Ban Bang Tao and Thalang.

There will be 16 teams competing in the event in total: Alice Smith School from Malaysia; RP Swimming League from the Philippines; the Hong Kong clubs comprising Coast Aquatics, Select Athletes, Ladies Recreational Club, Excel Sports and ISFA; Shanghai-based Champion Swim Club and Concordia International School as well as Dulwich College’s Shanghai and Beijing; Thai teams Bangkok Dolphins, International School of Samui and local Phuket teams Flying Fish, Silverfinz and Team Extreme.