62-YEAR-OLD REMAINS CONFIDENT OF CROSSING ENGLISH CHANNEL

KANGAR, Feb 3 (Bernama) -- Azizan Ali, a 62-year-old grandfather, remains
confident of becoming the first Malaysian senior citizen to swim across the
English Channel covering a distance of about 40 kilometers.

Azizan who hopes to achieve the feat in July by swimming from the Port Dover
in England to Port Calais in France, crossing the English Channel, tuned up for
the big challenge by swimming a distance of 22km in the Putrajaya Lake on
Monday.

After completing the swim, he cycled for another hour, around the Putrajaya
lake to enhance his stamina for the challenge.

"I want to prove that an Asian, especially a kampong (village) boy who
learned swimming in Sungai Padang Katong, Perlis, can conquer the English
Channel at an old age, a feat only achieved by Europeans before," he told
Bernama when contacted Monday.

A former school headmaster and a father of five who has three grand children
was also happy that his efforts was supported by the Perlis state government and
Sekolah (School) Tuanku Abdul Rahman Old Boys Association (Staroba) from Ipoh
and Eagle Aeronautic Sdn Bhd.

According to Azizan, before his departure to England he would complete his
final training session by swimming from the Kuala Perlis jetty to Brasmana
Island in Thailand and from there he will return to Kuala Perlis and use a canoe
to pedal the same route.

Upon completing the canoe ride at the Kuala Perlis jetty, Azizan will then
cycle from Kuala Perlis using the Kuala Perlis-Changlun highway to the
north-south Expressway in Changlun and return to Kangar.

"When I was young, I used to sneak away from my house without my parent's
knowledge and swim in Sungai Katong as there were no swimming pools nearby. I
continued with my passion for swimming when I was in Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman
and continued to be involved in swimming until now," he said.

He added that he was very fortunate to have taken up swimming as his passion
for swimming had taken him to the Universiti Southern Illinois in US, Bishom
Avvey National Sports training centre in London and Beijing, China.

"When I was posted to the Perlis Education Department as an officer for
education and sports, I was sent to these places to learn more about swimming
and diving," he said.

Two other Malaysians had crossed the English Channel, namely 34-year-old
Malik Mydin on August 3, 2003 (17 hrs 30 minutes) and 25 year-old Lennard
Lee, a medical student at Cambridge University, England became the fastest
Malaysian to swim the Channel on July 15, 2004 with a time of 9 hours 45
minutes.
-- BERNAMA