The 22nd Brunei Age Group Swimming Competition is set to dive into action today.
The three-day tournament - organised by the Brunei Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) - will see participation from a record breaking 217 swimmers from 11 clubs, eight of them from Brunei.
It will see a wide range of distances as well as strokes competed in five different age groups at the National Aquatics center of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex in Berakas.
The age groups are Group 1 (16-18), Group 2 (14-15), Group 3 (12-13), Group 4 (10-11) and Group 5 (7-9).
According to the Brunei Swimming website, the event will host some of Brunei's top talents as well as up-and-coming swimmers.
The competition added new rules to Group 4 as well as those aged 12 and older this year.
In order for Group 4 to swim in certain events, they must first compete in a 100m race.
Participants aged 12 and above must take part in a 200m event in order to compete in any of the other races.
The change was made to fit in with BASA's long term development plan to expose the swimming scene to more than just short distances.
It will also help nurture the next generation of swimmers towards the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games that will be held in Brunei.
National aquatics head coach Eric Landa shared that the meet 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.
"I'm looking forward to seeing many records tumble, from many different swimmers these three days," said Landa.
"I'm hoping for many great swimmers of all ages, also the youngest and novice swimmers to have fun, and a fast competition for all 217 participants" he added.
The competition will follow the FINA (International Swimming Federation) rules and the one start rule will apply.
The tournament was organised by BASA with co-operation from the Department of Youth and Sports under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports as well as the Department of Co-Curricular Education and Department of Schools under the Ministry of Education.-Syarif Rasani
