IRENE CHONG won the women’s 17-34 years title in the sprint distance at the 8th Port Dickson International Triathlon (PDIT8) at the Admiral Marina & Leisure Club on Saturday.

The Seremban lass clocked 1'19:59 ahead of Hong Kong’s Loretta Kam Lok Ting (1’31:31) and Malaysian Elaine Boey (1’32:31) to complete the 750 metres swim, 20km cycle race and 5km run. That sprint event saw over 230 triathletes from Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

SAW YI YIN spurred Seremban to the Sukan Negri Sembilan (Suknes) women’s basketball title at NSCRC recently. The University College Sedaya International (UCSI) student masterminded the attack to hand rivals Port Dickson (PD) a 66-55 defeat.

In the second quarter, PD equalled the score at 34-34 but Seremban pulled ahead in the final quarter to avenge their 2007 defeat to PD.

In the match for third placing, Jempol outplayed Kuala Pilah 49-29. As a regular basketball player and athlete for the past 10 years, Yi Yin outplayed her opponents with her speed, agility and height.

MUHD AL AZIM NUBLI was the smallest exponent in the arena but the lad still packed lethal punches and kicks when it mattered most.

He kicked his way to the gold medal by defeating Low Jia Ming in the boys’ Under-8 kumite final at the 3rd Negri Sembilan Inter-Schools Goshin-Ryu Karate tournament at the Negri Sembilan Chinese Recreational Club (NSCRC) over the weekend.

RAIHANA AQILAH wants to become a squash professional when she grows up. The 12-year-old lass is on the right track, emerging champion in the Negri Sembilan schools Under-12 at Institut Perguruan Raja Melewar (IPRM) in Seremban early this year.

Last weekend, she finished third in the Sukan Negri Sembilan (Suknes) meet at Seremban Two beating Logana Asok Kumar 15-13, 12-14, 12-10.

TRUE to the saying that an apple does not fall far from the tree, Lingeasan Sathiamoorthi has achieved as much as his father did. Lingeasan scorched the Paroi Stadium tracks at this year’s Negri Sembilan schools meet in March.

KISONA Selvaduray is the one of the best girls’ Under-12 badminton players in the country. She was the Under-12 singles runnerup at the National Junior Grand Finals on June 10-14, losing to Lee Ying Ying of Perak 19-21,15-21.

The gritty Kisona had earlier beaten Grace Lee of Sabah 21-17, 21-11 in the quarterfinals and Yeo Jia Ming of Johor 21-19, 22-20 in the semifinals.

ERIKA KONG CHIA CHIA finally won a gold medal at the Southeast Asia (Sea) age-group championships at the National Aquatics Centre in Bukit Jalil on Saturday. She won silver medals in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, but went out to make a big splash on the final day.

The weather, despite the sorching heat, was very conducive for athletes to give their best since there was no rain or strong winds to hinder them from erasing old records.