KUANTAN, 12 September – Great event, great race and organized by great people.

The Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge (POPIC) 2022 is the best sea canoe tournament ever organized in the world!

This statement was not made by any person but by four-time world champion Dawid Mocke who personally experienced the experience of competing in the race that was organized for the first time in the world here after the champion from South Africa had previously competed in many other places, especially in Europe.

“I have been racing for 32 years. I have won more than 30 tournaments around the world. In terms of tournament organized in Pahang this is the best.

“I am not praising to please the organizer but this is the fact. The tournament is very organized, and is made on a large scale on beautiful beaches. What I saw during the five days of competing here is that Malaysia has many beautiful beaches that are suitable for holding sea canoe races.

“Every day we move to a new beach, which means we get to see new places, get to know new cultures and ways of life,” said the champion of the men’s main category of the Open International Single Ocean Race.

“The organizer have set a very high benchmark for anyone who wants to organize a tournament like this. So, of course I will come back here if this tournament is held next year,” said the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 world champion from South Africa.”

In terms on the importance of this race to the community of sea canoe enthusiasts, Mocke, who is now 45 years old, said overseas participants will get a new experience competing in a different atmosphere and challenges, while for Malaysia, of course, they can use it to hone their talents and attract more people to participate in this sport.

POPIC 2022 is organized in five locations in Pahang, namely Pantai Hiburan in Rompin, followed by Pantai Lagenda, Pekan and Pantai Balok, Pantai Cherating and Pantai Teluk Cempedak, all three in Kuantan.

Among the participants who took part came from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia itself.

Women’s champion Danielle McKenzie echoes Mocke who says the tournament is the best in the world in terms of organization.

She said, for example, when the contestants arrived at the beach, their canoe were immediately taken to another place by the tournament staff and did not interfere with the path of other paddlers.

“This helps us a lot because surfski are not light,” she said.

The reigning world champion from New Zealand expects the organization of this tournament to be better if it is held again next year because the organizer have definitely gained experience and will think of ways to make it even better.

“I will definitely come again. After this I will compete in Europe, I will definitely tell other participants about my experience competing here,” said the paddler based in Gold Coast, Australia.

McKenzie, 28, emerged world champion in 2019  on her debut. The next world championship cannot be held when the whole world is facing the Covid 19 pandemic.

In the Gold Coast, she trains every day alongside Kent Jenkinson and MacKenzie Hynard, who emerged runner-up and third-place winners of the men’s Open International Single Ocean Race behind Mocke.

Meanwhile, among the oldest participants Dr. Benjamin Hewitt hopes that POPIC will continue in the future and promises to bring another of his sons to participate in this tournament.

“I used to travel to Langkawi but because of this tournament I came to Pahang. The beaches here is more beautiful and longer and suitable for canoe races.

“For me this tournament is very spectacular, the organizer have done their job very well. The organization of this tournament is very organized,” said the orthopedic specialist from Perth, Australia, who was present with his wife and a son who also competed in the main category.

KUANTAN, 12 September – Amazing and it was well organized!

That the most appropriate word for the organizers who has successfully organized the first ever Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge (POPIC) 2022 which ended at Teluk Chempedak, Pahang yesterday.

POPIC, the first ever international canoe challenge which offers a total cash prize amounting to RM300,000 has successfully achieved its organizing objective.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stagemaker Sdn. Bhd, the organizer of POPIC 2022, Emir Abdul Jalal, the challenge, which was held for the first time in Pahang, had received positive feedback from the participants, including famous paddlers from abroad.

“In fact POPIC Race Director, Oscar Chalupsky also praised the organization of the event which is considered as one of the best canoe championships in the world. This proves that POPIC has started to gain a name on the international stage.

“I also reveived a very good response from the participants. Averagely, they consider POPIC which we have just organized for the first time as a tournament that has its own class and uniqueness.

“These views and positive comments, including from some former world champions such as Dawid Mocke, make us (as organizers) more enthusiastic to organize POPIC next year,” said Emir in a press conference.

POPIC 2022 kicked-off with the Stage 1 race at Pantai Hiburan, Rompin on Sept 7 followed by Stage 2 at Pantai Lagenda Pekan (Sept 8); Stage 3 at Pantai Balok, Kuantan (Sept 9); Stage 4 at Pantai Cherating, Kuantan (Sept 10) and Stage 5 at Pantai Teluk Chempedak, Kuantan on Sept 11.

Although it was organized for the first time, POPIC 2022 quickly captured the hearts of the participants by offering seven categories – men’s and women’s international SS; men’s TK1 national; men’s and women’s TK2 national and men’s and women’s inter-varsity.

The tournament, which involved a total route of 80 kilometers, managed to attract the participation of several leading names in international canoeing, including Mocke from South Africa who appeared as a former four-time world champion.

Also participating include the former world runner-up in the Under-23 category, Mackenzie Hynard from Australia, as well as experienced Australian paddler, Rob Jenkinson, who appeared as a two-time former world champion.

In the women’s competition, Danielle McKenzie, a paddler from New Zealand who won the World Championship in 2019 in France, as well as Julie Jenkinson, a former four-time world champion from Australia, also graced the tournament this time.

Emir said that Stagemaker is ready to expand the organization of POPIC, which is now labeled as Pahang’s new signature, as announced by the state Tourism, Culture, Environment, Plantation and Commodity Exco, Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin.

“If you follow what Oscar said, it is possible that POPIC event will be able to attract the participation of about 200 participants next year. So we need to start from now and improve what needs to be done.

“What is important is that the preparation should be well designed to ensure that the organization of POPIC next year is better than this time. Regardless, I consider this all a challenge for us as the organizer.

“On this occasion, I would also like to thank the state government, especially Pahang Tourism, Tourism Malaysia for the trust given to organize this event,” he concluded.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 – FORMER winner Ryan Gibbons will be looking to repeat his winning feat in Malaysia when he returns to Malaysia for his second appearance in Asia’s premier stage race, PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2022,  next month.

Since winning the 2017 edition as a neo-pro with Team Dimension Data, the South African national champion, who has accumulated eight career wins thus far, has never looked back.

Gibbons’ past achievement and familiarity with the Malaysian terrain and weather will surely put him among the favourites when the race starts in Kuala Pilah on October 11.

The 28-year-old Gibbons has been included in the six-man UAE Team Emirates WorldTours outfit for the 26th edition of the race to help boost the team’s points in the UCI ranking. The team currently sit in the 3rd spot of the team world ranking, having amassed 11,893 points behind Jumbo Visma and INEOS Grenadiers.

Gibbons is expected to lead the team’s challenge in the Tour, along with Kiwi climber George Bennet for the general classification, the experienced Rui Costa and Juan Sebastien Molano for the points challenge.

With its high reputation in the WorldTours circuit, the UAE Team Emirates, which boasts of having two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar on its roster, are among the 22 teams confirmed for the 8-day race.

PETRONAS LTdL 2022 runs over a challenging route of 1,183 km, starting from Kuala Pilah in Negeri Sembilan on Oct 11 and ends with two back-to-back stages which include the Gunung Raya mountain top finish in Langkawi on October 17.

After a one-year lapse due to the covid pandemic, the PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi 2022 is back to thrill fans and spectators with a line-up of six World Tour teams, four Pro Continental teams, 11 Continental outfits and one national team.

Since its inception in 1996, South African riders have made impact in the Tour, winning four overall titles since 2005. Ryan Cox of Barloworld was first to win the yellow jersey in 2005, followed by David George in 2006, Reinardt van Rensburg (Team Dimension Data) in 2016 and Gibbons in 2017.

Gibbons, a pro since 2017, will be aiming to be the first South African rider to win the LTdL overall title twice. After four seasons with Team Dimension Data, Gibbons raced in his first Tour de France in 2020 with NTT Pro Cycling Team before joining the UAE Team Emirates last year to compete in more major races in Europe.

Adding to the team’s strength, Kiwi experienced rider George Bennet (pic left) will be another leading GC contender in this year’s peloton. Having raced five times in Tour de France, the 32-year-old Bennet, a pro since 2012 who has also raced seven times in Vuelta, is known as two Tadej Pogacar’s key mountain domestique.

Rui Costa, 36, among the oldest riders in the pack, will also be gunning for some great moments in LTdL 2022, which will be his swansong after seven years with Team Emirates. Having raced in nine Tour de France editions with three stage wins under his belt, Costa, a pro since 2007 and the first Portuguese to win the world championship in 2013, will be among the ones to watch.

Apart from UAE Team Emirates, the other WorldTour teams slated for the race are Cofidis (France), Lotto Soudal (Belgium), EF Education-EasyPost (United States), Movistar (Spain) and Astana-Qazaqstan (Kazakhstan).

Chief Operating Officer (COO) of LTdL 2022, Shahaizereen Abdul Hamid said, this year’s Tour will be one of the most interesting and competitive races as some of the WorldTour team teams are scrambling for winning points to avoid relegation from next season’s WorldTour set-up.

“The participation of these top-class teams will make this year’s edition one of the best-ever organised in terms of the quality of participation of the world’s leading teams where it will present world-class competition to local and foreign cycling fans,” he said.

Alpecin-Deceuninck from Belgium, currently the best placed Pro Continental team in the rankings (11^th), are expected to mount a serious challenge, followed by regular outfit Drone Harper-Androni Giacattoli from Italy and UNO-X Pro Cycling from Norway.

The UCI Continental Teams will be represented by Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team (TSG), Team Sapura Cycling (TSC), Indonesia’s Mula Cycling Team and Roojai Cycling Team, ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast of Australia, China Glory Continental Cycling Team (China), ProTouch (South Africa) and Kuwait Pro Cycling (Kuwait).

Regional teams include Thailand Continental Team (Thailand), Team UKYO (Japan), 7-Eleven Cliqq Air (Philippines) and the Malaysian national team.

KUANTAN, 11 September – Four-time world champions Dawid Mocke and Danielle McKenzie created history when they emerged as the first overall champions of the Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge (POPIC) 2022 which ended at Pantai Teluk Cempedak here today.

Meanwhile the country’s best bet in the women’s category Aimi Ayuni Azwan emerged Asia’s best competitor after finishing the five-stage race in second place, behind McKenzie.

In contrast to McKenzie who won unchallenged in the main category of the women’s Open International Single Ocean Race, Mocke had to endure five bitter days as he was made to work hard by Kent Jenkinson, 25, and MacKenzie Hynard, 27, who respectively finished as runners-up and overall third place winner.

In the 20 kilometers fifth stage race at Pantai Teluk Cempedak today, four times consecutive world champion since 2009 Mocke finished the race with a time of one hour, 42 minutes and 23.75 seconds, followed by Jenkinson from New Zealand with a time of 1’42:41.37s while the participant from Australia Hynard was quite far behind with 1’46:23.19s.

“The first four stages were very tough, but today’s stage is even more difficult. Fortunately I had managed to build a quite comfortable time gap in front of Macca (Hynard) on the first day.

“Then I got ahead of Kent with a pretty good time gap after two days, and on the third day I knew I just had to stay close to both of them. But the third day’s race was the hardest because they tried hard to leave me.

“On the fourth stage, the situation was on my side near the island when Macca got caught in a wavy area. Kent tried hard to leave me but I managed to stay close to him,” said the 45-year-old South African contestant.

Of the five stages of the race since last Wednesday, the participant from South Africa won four-stage and recorded a total time of 6’47:05s, Jenkinson collected a total time of 6’48’05s and Hynard, who emerged as the champion of the third stage, recorded a total time of 6’57:43.

The champion of each level of the main category receives a cash prize of RM3,000 while the overall champion takes home RM15,000.

Meanwhile, McKenzie lived up to the prediction by winning all five stages easily to earn RM30,000. The paddler from New Zealand finished fifth-stage with a time of 1’46:44.80s, and 7’15:26s overall.

“I came not because of the prize, but I want to try the water here. I enjoyed the race and I will tell other paddlers about this tournament when I compete in Europe next,” said the 28-year-old 2019 world champion.

Aimi Ayuni, 24, finished today’s race with an overall timing of 2’05:2272s and 8’42:01, leaving her nearest challenger Irin Neegree from Thailand who arrived at the finish line with a time of 2’08:32.25s and 8’46 :22s overall.

This means that Aimi Ayuni who represents Pahang took home RM16,000 as a result of her successful overall second position which is worth RM10,000 and three times appearing runner-up.

“This is the first time I competed using a surfski canoe. It was a bit awkward at first but now I feel fun, not to mention getting a new experience competing in the sea,” said the student at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) from Kuala Lumpur.

POPIC 2022  in five stages namely at Pantai Hiburan, Rompin followed by Pantai Lagenda, Pekan while the last three stages will take place in Kuantan namely at Pantai Balok, Pantai Cherating and Pantai Teluk Cempedak.

A total of 39 paddlers participated in the men’s event and 11 competed in the women’s event for this main category.

This race, which offers a total prize of approximately RM300,000, is presented by StageMaker Sdn. Bhd. as an organizer in collaboration with the Pahang state government, Tourism Pahang and Tourism Malaysia.

KUANTAN, 11 September – Terengganu paddler, Daing Sulaiman Daing Suhaimi was crowned overall champion of the men’s national category TK1 Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge 2022 (POPIC 2022) at Pantai Teluk Cempedak here on Sunday.

Even better, Daing Sulaiman ended POPIC 2022 – the first international canoe tournament held in Pahang by emerging as the champion of Stage 5 involving a 20-kilometer race course on the famous resort beach.

“Thank God for today’s victory, I really didn’t expect to win the overall title in this category (Men’s TK1 National) because the competition has been fierce since the Stage 1 race.

“I only aim for the top three positions’ because I am aware that there are several other favourite participants, especially Adib (Kamaruzrizan) and Freddy (Anggang). This may be my fortune to emerge champion,” he said.

As the overall champion, Daing Sulaiman who won the Stage 4 race at Pantai Cherating here on Saturday brought a total cash prize of RM3,500 in addition to winning RM800 as the stage winner.

For the men’s TK2 national category, the experienced pairing representing Pahang, Ahmad Azfaruddin Lukman-Imam Sujadi Satta proved their prowess when they emerged as overall champions, thus bagging a cash prize of RM5,000.

“Thank God all our hard work for five days ended with this special success. Although there were a few problems at the beginning of today’s race, we were still able to catch up with the other participants to win,” explained Imam Sujadi.

In addition to topping Stage 5, Azfaruddin-Imam Sujadi also performed brilliantly when they won Stages 1, 2 and 4 after their victory at Stage 3 was revoked due to a penalty for not following the correct route.

For the women’s TK2 national category, sisters pair from Terengganu, Norazita-Nursaibah Syahida Ibrahim grabbed the overall champion title after they swept clean all five stages.

Norazita-Nursaibah Syahida were clearly in a class of their own to take home RM5,000 as overall champions and also collected a cash prize of RM7,500 as a result of their success in winning five stages of the race.

For the men’s and women’s inter-varsity categories, the students of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UNISZA), Tuan Muhamad Hidzam Tuan Dolah-Mohd Azman Ibrahim and the pairing of Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Nur Aleya Nafisha Norhanafi-Alya Athirah Shaharaziz won respectively.

As the overall champion of the category involving a 6-kilometer route in all five stages, Tuan Muhamad Hidzam-Mohd Azman and Nur Aleya Nafisha-Alya Athirah each received a cash prize of RM4,000.

The highlight of the POPIC 2022 international category saw former world champions from South Africa, Dawid Mocke and Danielle McKenzie (New Zealand) confirm their respective championships in the men’s and women’s competitions.

Appearing as the preferred paddlers due to their reputation as former world champions, Mocke, winner of four stages and McKenzie, winner of five stages of the race, each grabbed a cash prize of RM15,000 after emerging as overall champions.

KUANTAN, 10 September – Terengganu paddler Daing Sulaiman Daing Suhaimi created a surprise when he won Stage 4 of the Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge 2022 (POPIC 2022) at Pantai Cherating here on Saturday.

In the men’s TK1 national category race, Daing Sulaiman recorded a time of 2 hours 11 minutes 09.49 seconds to leave his nearest challenger from Pahang, Mohd Adib Kamaruzrizan (2:14:02.75s) and Freddy Anggang (2:14:25.05s).

The success of winning the 20 kilometer race saw Daing Sulaiman emerge as the new leader of the men’s TK1 category when he overtook Adib with a total time difference of 45s.

“Thank God for the victory in Stage 4 today. In the previous three stages, I tried my best to compete with Adib for first place but he was faster to ahead.

“Today, I had the chance to get ahead of Adib when he made a little mistake at Bouy 1. That situation allowed me to stay ahead of Adib and the rest of the challengers including Freddy to be at the front.

“For the last race tomorrow, I will try with the same strategy. Most importantly, I have to sprint earlier to distance myself from the other paddlers and maintain the tempo in the middle until the end of the race,” he said.

Adib who won three stages before – at Pantai Hiburan, Rompin; Pantai Lagenda, Pekan and Pantai Balok, Kuantan admitted that he made a mistake at the beginning of the race which opened up the opportunity for Daing Sulaiman to win Stage 4.

“Yes, I made a little mistake because I didn’t really see Bouy 1 and as a result, Daing Sulaiman was in front. Then, I tried to chase Daing Sulaiman but he was faster to stay in front.

“Congratulations to Daing Sulaiman for his success today. God willing, I will try my best to compete with Daing in the last stage at Pantai Teluk Cempedak tomorrow,” he said.

Meanwhile, the experienced pair representing Pahang, Ahmad Azfaruddin Lukman-Imam Sujadi Satta again set foot on the main podium when they topped the men’s TK2 category with a time of 2:02:18.81s.

The second podium belongs to Pahang’s representative, David Bong Xia Shing-Aderian Adek who recorded a time of 2:04:42.18s while the Terengganu paddler, Muhammad Adhwa-Danish Lukman was in third place with a record of 2:06:13.52s.

“We took note of what happened yesterday after being penalized. So in today’s race, we only followed the route based on the buoys’ provided by the organizers to avoid repeating the same mistakes,” he explained.

For the women’s TK2 category, the representatives of Terengganu, Norazita-Nursaibah Syahida Ibrahim emerged as champions with a record of 2:15:59.75s followed by Dayang Nur Sakinah-Dayang Nur Hanisah Awang Ali (2:23:47.74s) and Siti Normah Abdul Rahman-Mustika Ayuni Mustofa (2:27:57.29s).

For the men’s inter-varsity category, the defending champion status belongs to Tuan Muhamad Hidzam Tuan Dolah-Mohd Azman Ibrahim (UNISZA); runner-up Muhammad Farhan Haqimi Abdul Latiff-Mohamad Faiz Rosdin (UTHM) and third place winner Mohamad Izzat-Muhammad Hafizi (UNISZA).

For the women’s inter-varsity category, representatives of UTHM, Nur Aleya Nafisha Norhanafi-Alya Athirah Shaharaziz emerged as champions followed by Ain Syuhadah Zulkifli-Nur Amira Syafiqah Rosli (UTHM) and Yusriyah Athirah Yusof-Nor Natasha Mohd Yusuf (Outdoor Edit UPSI).

The POPIC 2022 highlight for the international category saw former world champions Dawid Mocke from South Africa and Danielle McKenzie (New Zealand) defend their position as leaders when they won the men’s and women’s competitions respectively.

POPIC 2022 – the first-ever international canoe championship held in Pahang will conclude on Stage 5 at Pantai Teluk Cempedak on Sunday and crown the overall champion in all seven categories for this edition.

KUANTAN, September 10 – The fourth stage race of the Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge (POPIC) 2022, which took place in cloudy weather and light rain today, saw the four-time world champion Dawid Mocke make a strong come back – leaving his nearest challenger to win the fourth stage of the Open category Men’s International Single Ocean Race at Pantai Cherating here today.

In the women’s event, Malaysia’s best bet Aimi Ayumi Azwan brightened her chances of taking second place overall ahead of tomorrow’s fifth and final stage after seeing off her closest rival Irin Neegree today.

Today’s race saw the South African compete hard with his two closest challengers in the early stages before Mocke and Kent Jenkinson left MacKenzie Hynard far behind as they reached the second buoy.

Mocke, who had previously won the first and second stages but dropped to third place yesterday, finished the roughly 20-kilometer race in one hour, 44 minutes and 4.07 seconds, some 13 seconds ahead of Jenkinson who arrived in 1 ’44:18.91s.

Hynard, who won the third stage at Pantai Balok, limped after the landing to reach the finish line with a time of 1’49:34.82s and fell out of contention for the overall title.

“Today’s race was very intense between myself, Kent and Macca (MacKenzie). But we managed to leave Macca and Kent and I battled hard for the last 4km where he try to overtook me several times.

“For tomorrow, I am sure the race will be more challenging. Macca definitely wants to make a come back.

“I believe the fifth stage is the most difficult because we will face a combination of river and sea,” he said.

Meanwhile Aimi Ayumi arrived at the finish line with a time of 2’14:00.52s behind the overall leader Danielle McKenzie who recorded a time of 1’49:26.14s.

Irin, on the other hand, arrived in 2’15:10.37s, and saw her closest competitor consolidate her position in second place overall despite being separated by about a minute.

“After a few days, I started to be able to read the waves. Today is very helpful even though this stage is the most difficult compared to the previous three,” she said.

Regarding tomorrow’s race in Pantai Teluk Cempedak, Aimi Ayumi said she expects the race to be more difficult because there will be a mixture of river currents and sea waves because all racers will start paddling in the river basin in addition to the beach conditions in the bay.

POPIC 2022, which takes place in five stages starting at Pantai Hiburan, Rompin next at Pantai Legenda, Pekan followed by Pantai Balok, Kuantan.

A total of 39 rowers participated in the men’s event and 11 competed in the women’s event for this main category.

This race, which offers a total prize of approximately RM300,000, is presented by StageMaker Sdn. Bhd. as an organizer in collaboration with the Pahang state government, Tourism Pahang and Tourism Malaysia.

KUANTAN, 9 September – Pahang paddler, Mohd Adib Kamaruzrizan gave another superb performance today.

He is now half way to be crowned the overall champion in the men’s TK1 national category when he won Stage 3 race of the Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge 2022 (POPIC 2022) at Pantai Balok here on Friday.

Adib recorded a time of 1 hour 19 minutes 21.95 seconds to once again leaving his two nearest challengers – Daing Sulaiman Daing Suhaimi (1:19:57.33s) and Freddy Anggang (1:21:09.43s) in the 13 kilometer race.

“Before this tournament started, I realized that Daing and Freedy would be among my main challengers. Freddy can be considered a legend in canoeing because he has extensive experience but Daing and I are still new.

“So for the remaining two stages, I try to maintain the momentum and if possible, continue to increase the gap. I will try my best and the rest I will leave it to God to emerge as the overall champion,” according to Adib who won Stages 1 and 2 before.

The Pahang pairing, Ahmad Azfaruddin Lukman-Imam Sujadi Satta also maintained their status as the leader of the men’s TK2 category by being strongly challenged by another Pahang representative, David Bong Xia Shing-Aderian Adek and the Terengganu duo, Muhammad Adhwa Danish-Muhammad Mustaqim.

In the Stage 3 race, Azfaruddin-Imam Sujadi, who initially emerged as the first winner, was given a two-minute penalty for following the wrong route, resulting in them falling to second place.

The same fate also befell David Bong-Aderian who fell in third place despite crossing the finish line in second place while the luck of the ‘champion’ belonged to Adhwa Danish-Mustaqim who had previously finished the race in third place.

“With two stages left, our strategy is just to maintain the momentum. Firstly, right from the start, we will try to position at the front or second place, we will try our best to leave other competitors behind,” said Azfaruddin.

Meanwhile, the representatives of Terengganu who are also a pair of siblings, Norazita-Nursaibah Syahida Ibrahim continued to top the women’s TK2 category chart as the overall leader when they emerged as champions with a time of 1:26:29.13s.

The sibling duo representing Outdoor Addict, Dayang Nur Sakinah-Dayang Nur Hanisah Awang Ali, took second place when they recorded 1:30:54.19s while Siti Normah Abdul Rahman-Mustika Ayuni Mustofa came in third (1:30:57.37s).

For the men’s inter-varsity category, the defending champion status belongs to Tuan Muhamad Hidzam Tuan Dolah-Mohd Azman Ibrahim (UNISZA); runner-up Muhammad Farhan Haqimi Abdul Latiff-Mohamad Faiz Rosdin (UTHM) and third place Mohamad Izzat Anam-Muhammad Hafizi Ab Aziz (UNISZA).

For the women’s inter-varsity category, UTHM representatives, Ain Syuhadah Zulkifli-Nur Amira Syafiqah Rosli emerged as champions followed by Nur Aleya Nafisha Norhanafi-Alya Athirah Shaharaziz (UTHM) and Nor Natasha Mohd Yusuf-Yusriyah Athirah Yusof (Outdoor Edit UPSI).

The POPIC 2022 highlight of the international category once again saw former world champions Dawid Mocke from South Africa and Danielle McKenzie (New Zealand) defend their status as leaders of the men’s and women’s competition.

However, the main podium of the men’s international category Stage 3 was grabbed by the Under-23 world runner-up, MacKenzie Hynard, thus promising fierce competition in the hunt for the overall champion crown with two stages remaining.

POPIC 2022 – the first-ever international canoeing tournament held in Pahang will continue at Stage 4 at Pantai Cherating, Kuantan (Saturday) before ending at Stage 5 at Pantai Teluk Cempedak, Kuantan (Sunday).