Singapore para athletics ‘on the right track’

SINGAPORE — At first glance, Singapore’s final tally of two silver medals in athletics at the 8th ASEAN Para Games (APG) might not seem like much, especially when compared to the impressive haul of 30 gold, 32 silver and 22 bronze amassed by the Thais, who finished top of the medal table. The Republic’s medals came from Zac Leow in the men’s 1,500m T37 and Suhairi Suhani in the men’s long jump F20.

But put Singapore’s results into context, and it paints a rosier picture. After all, this had already bettered their previous showing at the Myanmar Para Games last year, where the Republic’s athletics team came home empty handed.

That is not all — Suhairi’s 6.66m effort in the long jump also met the qualifying mark for next year’s Rio Paralympics, although this is pending certification by the International Paralympic Committee.

In addition, the 16-strong Singapore contingent had also managed to set more than 20 new Personal Best (PB) results over the past six days of track-and-field action.

So even though the host nation were unable to add to their medal tally on the final day of competition at the National Stadium this morning (Dec 9), there was still a tangible buzz of positivity and optimism.

Speaking to TODAY, Singapore’s para-athletics team manager, Loh Ngiap Kiang, declared that his charges had performed above his ­expectations at this APG.

“For us to win two silvers was definitely above my expectations,” said Loh. “I’m really proud of all of them. This bunch of athletes are an intrinsically motivated bunch of athletes who just want to outdo themselves at this APG and you can see they really tried very hard.

“For all of them, the sky is really the limit. They set their own pinnacle, be it the Paralympics, the Asian or the ASEAN level, or even at national level. They just need to aim for it, work hard and everyone, from the SDSC (Singapore Disability Sports Council) to the coaches and volunteers will work to help them achieve their dreams.”

Among the four Singaporeans in action today was Asian Para Games multiple gold-medallist William Tan. A veteran national athlete, the resident physician at the

National Cancer Centre is predicting a bright future for the current batch of athletes after being impressed by them at this year’s Games.

“I definitely see there’s huge potential for us to progress much further,” said the 58-year-old. “It’s heartening to see so much more support for disabled athletes as compared to my era. So we have to ride on all these opportunities to improve.

“There should be no excuse for us not to do better than we did in the past, when we operated on a shoestring budget with very little support and fewer training facilities.

“The Malaysian Para Games is our next target, so we’ll have two years to work on our skills and fitness for that.”

Referring to the enhanced grants for coaching, training and equipment expenses that Singapore’s para athletes received from the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s Final Push Programme, Singapore athletics coach Jacter Singh added: “With the kind of support that we are getting now, we’re heading in the right direction. You can tell how much we have improved at this year’s APG, but we also have to look forward and start grooming more youngsters to join the team and prepare for future tournaments.”