Possibly S’pore’s future prince on ice

SINGAPORE — The ice skating community in Singapore may be a small, close-knit unit with just a few families involved, but among them has emerged a talent with the potential to become a leading skater.

Eight-year-old short track speed skater Brandon Pok may very well be Singapore’s next big hope in winter sports. Just a year after learning how to skate, Brandon is already considered the best in his age group.

The son of Vic Sent Pok, an information technology programme manager, and Ming Nie, a dentist, Brandon swept all three races (222m, 333m, 500m) in the Pony Division (eight years and under) at the recent Singapore Short Track Speed Skating National Championship. To put that result in perspective, the youngster started training for short track speed skating only two months ago. He admits he is drawn to the discipline by the adrenaline rush.

“I started speed skating one-and-a-half months ago,” said Brandon. “I used to learn figure (skating) and I still remember how to do it, but I like speed skating more, because I can go very fast and to me it’s more exciting.”

While most eight-year-old Singaporean kids might spend their weekend mornings at tuition classes or watching cartoons, the limited hours that the Singapore Ice Skating Association (SISA) gets on ice for its national skaters means Brandon is up at dawn on Saturday mornings for his training, which starts at 7am sharp.

“On Saturdays, it’s 7am to 9am and I wake up at 5am to get ready,” he said. “For Sundays, it’s 9am to 12pm. For off-ice training, I often go to JCube, Stadium or Queenstown on weekdays during the holidays. We usually do exercises to strengthen the legs and improve our posture. The bigger boys do even more off-ice training, so when I’m older, I will have to do more of that too.”

While speed skating is a fairly new sport in Singapore, SISA president Sonja Chong revealed a plan to send Brandon and other speed and figure skaters to Thailand for the inaugural South-east Asian Junior Ice Skating Championships in December.

Brandon, a student at Nanyang Primary School, said he and his sister Alyssa — she won her races in the Midget Division (10 years and under) at the Singapore Short Track Ice Speed Skating National Championships — will train with other speed skaters in China in November to gain more time on the ice before the meet.

SISA secretary-general Alison Chan believes Brandon is possibly the most exciting young prospect Singapore skating has seen in a while. “He seems to be going in the right path with his technique. Considering his young age, it gives us a lot of time to train him up,” she said. “A lot of the good ones are older, so he’s started at a good age. He’s got the most talent we’ve seen in a very long time.”