Athletes from Sarawak clinch five golds, and one bronze in Open DanceSport Championships

BY: Patrick Beech

Three DanceSport athletes from Sarawak clinched five golds and a bronze medal in the recent juvenile and junior Latin categories at the Cebu World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) Open DanceSport Championship 2023 in The Philippines.

Eleven-year-old Valery Chung, a student of SJK Chung Hua overwhelmed the some 40-plus juvenile Latin competitors to make a clean sweep of four golds in all her events in Juvenile C, Solo Samba, Cha Cha Cha and Jive.

The fifth gold came from 12-year-old Erin Ung of Tunku Putra-HELP primary school, who partnered with a student of St Joseph`s Private School, Arabelle Leah Pei in the Junior C Duo event.

Leah also won a bronze in Junior Solo Rumba.

The Sarawak DanceSport Association said dance coach Cindy Chung, assisted by Amy Kho from Kuching-based Russell and Randell Dance Company, was elated with the results.

The association said the DanceSport athletes’ patience and stamina were tested when the competition schedule was delayed for more than ten hours, mainly because of overwhelming participation in the Cebu competition.

“That meant that they had to compete and dance well past midnight and only completed at 7.30am the next day,” it added.