Splashing show: Mohd Dhuha Zulfikry smashed several records at the MSSM that had lasted for a decade.
KUALA LUMPUR: It’s time to hit the books for teen swimmer Mohd Dhuha Zulfikry after making a big statement for Kuala Lumpur in the National Schools (MSSM) at the National Aquatic Centre in Bukit Jalil.
The 16-year-old capped a stunning end to his first year in the 16-18 age-group category by raking in 10 gold medals as the swimming competition came to an end yesterday.
More impressive is the fact that he smashed several meet records that had lasted for a decade and held by Olympian swimmer Welson Sim.
Dhuha bagged individual wins in the boy’s 50m and100m butterfly; 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle; and also 200m individual medley.
He also claimed two more gold medals with KL relay team in the boy’s 4x100m medley and 4x100m freestyle.
Dhuha erased the meet records held by Welson since 2014 in winning the boy’s 100m (51.47s), 200m (1:51.77s) and 400m (3:57.42s) freestyle.
He also claimed the boy’s 50m (25.43s) and 100m (55.67s) butterfly titles by breaking long standing records held by former national swimmers Keith Lim (since 2014) and Bryan Leong (since 2019).
With his latest efforts, Dhuha indicated he has what it takes to make a big splash for Malaysia when they become the SEA Games hosts in 2027.
Dhuha, who formerly trained under Olympian Daniel Bego and won six gold medals at Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Sarawak, said he has even surprised himself with the big win.
“I did not have much rest after Sukma last month and I was not confident I could swim to the best of my abilities,” said Dhuha.
“Actually, I was only targeting to win three or four in my pet events (middle and long distance races).
“I did not expect to win the butterfly and individual medley events and breaking the meet records held by Welson is a bonus,” said Dhuha, who intends to take a break after this to focus on his studies.
“I will need to prepare for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examinations in November.
“I will cut down my training sessions as I need to go for tuition and extra classes to catch up on what I had missed.
“Hopefully, that is enough for me to achieve my target to score 5As for SPM,” he added.
KL emerged overall champions at the end of the five-day MSSM meet with 25-14-10.
Sarawak settled a close second with 24-15-17 followed by Selangor (17-27-15) and Melaka (12-7-6).
