KUCHING, Oct 2: Sarawak DanceSport athletes Valery Chung, Erin Ung and Arabelle Leah Pei displayed grit and good potential to grab five gold medals and one bronze medal in the Juvenile and Junior Latin category events of the Cebu WDSF Open DanceSport Championship 2023.
The championship was held at Cebu Waterfront City Hotel, Cebu of the Philippines on Sept 30.
The toast of the team from Sarawak was 11-year-old Chung, a student from SJK Chung Hua 4 who displayed dancing skills belying her age to overwhelm over 40 Juvenile Latin competitors to make clean sweep of four golds in all her events in Juvenile C, Solo Samba, Cha Cha Cha and Jive.
Tunku Putra-HELP student Ung partnered with St Joseph’s Private School student Pei to take on 50 Junior category competitors to win the gold in the Junior C Duo event. Both are aged 12.
Pei added a bronze from Junior Solo Rumba. Ung and Pei placed seventh and eighth respectively in Solo Junior C.
Their dance coach Cindy Chung assisted by Amy Kho from Russell & Randell Dance Company of Kuching were elated with the results, which Cindy enthused, would motivate them to work harder for future competitions, while expressing appreciation to Sarawak Sports Council and Sarawak DanceSport Association for their support.
The young DanceSport athletes’ patience and stamina were tested when the competition schedule was delayed for more than ten hours, mainly because of exceptionally overwhelming participation in the Cebu competition.
That meant they had to compete and dance well past midnight, and the competition only completed at 7.30am the next day.
The next event lined up for these promising teens would be the Sabah DanceSport Championship to be held later this year, in November.
Cindy added that 30 Russell & Randell Dance Company teachers had just sat for examinations for various levels of the London-based Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) certifications. — DayakDaily
