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Sailors’ one last hurrah

SINGAPORE — They always travel fast, and “Rumour” and “Bad News” — Team Singapore’s men’s and women’s 420 dinghies — are looking to do some serious damage at the Incheon Asian Games when Team Singapore’s sailors take to the waters off Wangsan Sailing Marina later this month.

SINGAPORE — They always travel fast, and “Rumour” and “Bad News” — Team Singapore’s men’s and women’s 420 dinghies — are looking to do some serious damage at the Incheon Asian Games when Team Singapore’s sailors take to the waters off Wangsan Sailing Marina later this month.

At the helm of the women’s 420 boat are Kimberly Lim and Savannah Siew (crew). The duo — who are both 18 and enrolled in Raffles Institution — will be aiming for one last hurrah to end their two-year partnership on a high.

The Asiad will be the last competition together for the 420 sailors, with Lim set to sail the 49er FX with Cecilia Low and Siew to move to the bigger 470 class with former windsurfer Amanda Ng. The men’s 420 dinghy (“Bad News”) will be manned by 2014 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Youth World Sailing Championships winners Jonathan Yeo and Loh Jia Yi.

“One of our team-mates named the two 420 boats ‘Rumour’ and ‘Bad News’ because they are known to travel fast, and they said girls like to gossip so our boat is ‘Rumour’,” said Siew, who is the eldest child of 1998 Asian Games champion and Olympic sailor Siew Shaw Her.

Added Lim: “We have sailed more than 30 events together … our personalities complement each other a lot. Savannah is very nervous before races and I’m more relaxed and we work well together.”

Since coming together in February 2012, Lim and Siew have forged a successful partnership that yielded gold medals at the 2013 Myanmar SEA Games and the 420 Ladies World Championship this year in the Under-18 category, and a silver in the open category (420).

The duo will be joined in South Korea by their 15 team-mates in the optimist (boys’ and girls’), men’s 420, 29er, RS:X, RS:One, laser standard, laser radial women, and match race, with the Singaporean sailors to contest 10 of 14 events in Incheon.

Boasting a strong Asiad team of world youth champions (men’s 420 Yeo and Jia Yi), Asian champions (29er women Priscilla and Cecilia Low), Olympians Colin Cheng (laser standard) and Elizabeth Yin (laser radial), the Singaporeans will be the one to watch in Korea. Team Singapore finished fourth among the Asian sailing nations at the 2010 Guangzhou Games with two gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

Despite the pressure to deliver and GCE A-Level examinations looming in November, Lim and Siew are not fazed by the task ahead.

Said Lim, who won silver in the girls’ optimist at the 2010 Asiad: “Our main competitors at the Asian Games will likely be South Korea and Malaysia. We will go in with clear heads. We know we are prepared for it and we are really excited for the races to start.”

When the Games are done and dusted and the books set aside after the A-Levels, the two teenage sailors will finally be able to indulge in a movie or two. Said Siew with a laugh: “Right now, it’s just eat, sleep, school and sail. I really want to catch the movie If I Stay because I see the poster every morning when I go to school. It’s been too long, I just want to eat popcorn and watch a movie!”

And they’re off to Korea.

Q: If you were a K-pop duo, what would you call yourselves?

Lim & Siew: TWO2ONE! It’s the name we call all our boats. It has a lot of meaning for the two of us, but it’s a secret code!

Q: Did you enjoy the TODAY K-pop shoot?

Siew: It was a one-of-a-kind experience, very interesting and exciting!

Lim: For me, I was just out of my comfort zone. It’s such a long process with hair and makeup to be a K-pop star!

Q: Which of you two is the K-pop fan?

Siew: I used to listen to SNSD, 2PM and MBLAQ when I was in Secondary 2 or 3 but I’m not so into them now.

Q: What’s the latest K-drama you’re watching?

Lim & Siew: Here Comes Mr Oh! Jiayi also likes the show, so we talk about it when we’re together

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