Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Aisyah’s on the comeback trail

SINGAPORE — There is no question that Saiyidah Aisyah Rafa’ee is Singapore rowing’s golden girl.

SINGAPORE — There is no question that Saiyidah Aisyah Rafa’ee is Singapore rowing’s golden girl.

From the video crew tracking her progress at the ongoing Asian Cup Rowing at the Marina Reservoir, to the colleagues from Ngee Ann Polytechnic arriving to cheer her on, Aisyah has emerged as the one to watch at this June’s South-east Asian (SEA) Games.

But the 26-year-old, who won gold in the women’s 2,000m lightweight singles sculls at the 2013 Myanmar Games, is not about to get carried away.

Just last year, she endured an injury-plagued season before finishing a disappointing fourth at the Incheon Asian Games — what she calls the lowest point in her career.

But Aisyah is determined to put the setback behind her as she gears up for the biggest race of the year at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore.

“The Asian Games was definitely a blow for me. I was injured the whole of last year and only had 10 weeks’ training for it,” said Aisyah, who is competing in the 500m and 1,000m at this week’s race.

“It feels good to be injury-free and fast again. I feel like I’m at my fittest right now and it’s the strategy that I need to work out. Of course, people have a lot of expectations. I have to not think about it, otherwise it will be like the Asian Games when I let it affect my game plan. I’m just focused on my race, getting faster and gaining more race exposure.”

Since recovering from injury — she suffered two stress injuries to her ribs in March last year — Aisyah, who is aiming to qualify in the 2,000m for the 2016 Olympic Games at next year’s Asian qualifiers, has enjoyed a good run in form recently.

Last month, she clocked a personal best time of 7min 10sec for the 2,000m on the ergometer — an indoor rowing machine used for training and to assess fitness and technique levels — at the Mosman Rowers Club in Sydney, Australia.

Indoor rowing results clocked by rowing website Concept2 lists the top three times in the world for the year at 7:10.6, 7:15.9 and 7:23.3.

Yesterday’s Asian Cup Rowing also saw Aisyah qualifying for a spot in the women’s 500m lightweight single sculls final. She had finished fourth in the morning’s heats in 2:08.295, but will contest today’s final after clinching top spot in 1:43.12 in the repechage.

The March 11 to 14 Asian Cup is also a first test on home ground for Singapore’s 22-strong rowing team, who will come up against more than 100 athletes from countries like China, Japan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and South-east Asian rivals Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

While Aisyah appears to be on the comeback trail, there are no guarantees for gold in the 500m and 1,000m at the SEA Games. The SEA Games will not feature the longer 2,000m distance this time.

“I prefer sprints as they are shorter, but I realise it’s a different game. You don’t have time to catch up and you have to push from the start,” she said. “Training in Australia has helped as I have more time to rest and training with the Australians — it’s like a race everyday. The environment is very competitive and I like it there.”

Added coach Alan Bennett: “She needs to be more aggressive and tougher. The gold medal is definitely not a given, as that took a lot of hard work to achieve.”

The second day of action at the Asian Rowing Cup today will see women’s 500m double sculls Joanna Chan and Pek Hong Kun contesting the semi-finals, while Chen Mingxiang will feature in the semi-finals of the men’s 500m lightweight single sculls after qualifying through the repechage.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.