HRH Prince 'Abdul Muntaqim in action during Group 5 Boys' 50m freestyle event yesterday. BT/Yee Chun Leong
His Royal Highness Prince 'Abdul Muntaqim showed that he could compete against the older boys.
HRH took part in the both the boys' Group 5 (7-9 years old) 50-metre breaststroke and freestyle events on the first day of the 22nd Brunei Age Group Swimming Championships yesterday.
Contested at the Aquatics Centre of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports complex in Berakas, HRH started his campaign by finishing in 22nd place out of 25 swimmers in the 50m breaststroke after coming in with a time of 1:26.83.
The seven-year-old, swimming under the banner of ISB Hammerheads, fared much better in the 50m freestyle by winning his heat with a time of 58.26 seconds.
The result placed him 20th out of 29 swimmers overall and he was fastest among the youngest batch of swimmers.
Meanwhile, a total of six open and age group records came crumbling down yesterday.
National swimmer Muhammad Isa Ahmad bettered his previous national and age group record in the boys' Group 1 (16-18 years old) 100m breaststroke with a time of 31.23s.
The previous national record was 32.26s from November 22 last year while the age group record was 31.50s from March 21.
The other open record was set by Tiara Shahril Anwar in the girls' Group 1 1500m freestyle event after finishing with a time of 19:05.55.
Her old record was 19:454.88 also set from November 22 last year while there was no previous age group record on file for the event.
The other two age group records were broken by Nur Haziq Samil in the boys' Group 3 (12-13 years old) 1500m freestyle and 100m backstroke events.
He completed the former with a time of 19:04.10 to better the previous time of 19:08.43 set by Desmond Lee Edward from November 2008.
Nur Haziq clocked a time of 1:11.28 in the 100m backstroke to better his previous best of 1:12.58 from November 22 last year.
The trio are part of the Centre of Excellence (COE) Brunei under national aquatics coach Eric Landa and the Brunei Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) whereby swimmers train 50 weeks a year under an intensive programme.
Landa had previously shared that the three-day competition will be used as a qualifier for the June 6-8 SEA Age Group Swimming Championship and the June 17-22 SEA Swimming Federation Championship, both to be held in Singapore.
The second day continues today at 9am.
