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SEA Games: Teen exponent Jowen Lim strikes wushu gold again for Singapore

KUALA LUMPUR — Jowen Lim does not fixate on winning medals every time he heads into a competition, preferring to simply focus on giving his best.

Jowen Lim's victory in the optional changquan added to his gold in the optional daoshu and gunshu on Monday, which was his first ever individual Games triumph . Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

Jowen Lim's victory in the optional changquan added to his gold in the optional daoshu and gunshu on Monday, which was his first ever individual Games triumph . Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

KUALA LUMPUR — Jowen Lim does not fixate on winning medals every time he heads into a competition, preferring instead to simply focus on giving his best.

That attitude has paid off handsomely for the wushu exponent at the 29th SEA Games, after he clinched his second gold medal of the competition on Tuesday afternoon (Aug 22) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

A confident display in the men’s optional changquan saw the 18-year-old recording a score of 9.68, which, in turn, enabled him to edge Vietnam's Tran Xuan Hiep by 0.01 to take gold.

Indonesia’s Edgar Xavier Marvelo recorded 9.66 to finish third

The sixth of 13 competitors to perform, Lim wowed the judges with his crisp routine. Even then, he revealed that he was surprised to emerge top in the end.

“For today, I'm really happy and speechless as to how I was able to win the gold,” he told TODAY. “I want to thank my federation for all their support and belief in me, and my family who came down to watch my performance.”

The victory added to his gold in the optional daoshu and gunshu on Monday, which was his first ever individual Games triumph and one he described as “extra, extra special”. Lim had won the gold in the duel weapons in 2015 on his Games debut.

But medals are secondary for the former two-time world youth champion and Asian youth champion who picked up the sport at five and made the national team at 11.

“My parents are both sportsmen and they wanted me to join a sport before I had to join a CCA (co-curricular activity)in Primary 3,” he recalled.

“We saw a live wushu performance on television and it was quite cool and quite special, so we just went to try…

“Every time I go for a competition, it's just mainly (about) showing how Singapore has strong wushu talents coming up.

“Wushu is a performing art so to me, it's just about performing my best to show everybody. It's not all about getting a medal to me.”

Lim currently trains from Monday to Saturday, juggling school during the week with his nightly sessions that run from 7.30 to 10pm.

It is a routine he has gotten used to and the Year 2 student at Republic Polytechnic is now targeting qualification for next year’s Asian Games in Indonesia, which he described as the “biggest competition” for wushu as it is not an Olympic sport.

With the wushu competition coming to an end today, it also means Lim has accounted for all of Singapore’s golds in the sport.

The Republic’s six other wushu medals - one silver and five bronzes - came through Samuel Tan (silver, men’s compulsory 3rd taijiquan), Ho Lin Ying (bronze, women’s compulsory 3rd taijiquan), Fung Jin Jie (bronze, men’s optional jianshu), Fung Hui Xin (bronze, women’s optional jianshu), Zoe Mui (bronze, women’s optional daoshu) and Chan Jun Kai (bronze, men’s optional taijijian).

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SEA Games 2017

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