Team Malaysia 2005

Foong Kok Seng was the team manager for the Malaysian team 2005. Head coach was Masaki Nemoto. The athletes are Saw Cheaw Hoe, Tan Hao Ning, Lim Yi Fan, Terence Tan Yu Hsien, Saw Chao Wei and Jeremy Loo Phay Cheow. This team is a very young team and the possibilities are endless. All of the gymnasts have artistic gymnastics background and see men's rhythmic gymnastics as an excellent development opportunity - competition experiences, teamwork and test extensions.

Background

Men rhythmic gymnastics in Malaysia started in Penang with the performance of Kotaro Yamada and the Komryo high school under Chiba sensei.

Two month after the performance Kotaro Yamada was sent to Malaysia to coach a team for the competition in 2003. The team of young men was assembled with different backgrounds - kung fu, acrobats, or other sports. At first, the training facility was very good but later they have to move to a much smaller place, sometimes even on judo floor.

In the year 2002, Masaki Nemoto was sent to Penanag - Kotaro must return to japan to complete his studies. In 2003, the program was in near jeopary when most of the gymnasts left. Luckily they came back and training continued.

The gymnasts worked really hard despite the lack of facility and funding. They have one of the most developed teams outside Japan. There are still many challenges in development of the sport in Penang. We hope the Penang Gymnastic Association can give the program their full support.

Their two high level individual competitors, Foong Kok Seng and Yi Yung have both trained in Japan for sometime. They have the ambition to help the sport expand in Malaysia!