SEA Games: Ryan Lo, Bernie Chin and Mark Wong win S'pore's first sailing gold

KUALA LUMPUR – Smooth sailing on the second day of the 29th SEA Games competition saw Singapore winning its first gold in the sport.

The trio of Ryan Lo, Bernie Chin and Mark Wong pipped hosts Malaysia on Tuesday (Aug 22)  to win the men’s team racing dinghy laser standard at the National Sailing Centre in Langkawi.

Lo, 20, was part of the side that finished second to Malaysia in the same event two years ago on home soil. Chin, 18, was sailing in the event at the SEA Games for the first time while Wong, 22, is making his Games debut..

A relieved Lo told TODAY that the win was a special one for him and his teammates.

“Colin (Cheng) and Scott (Glen Sydney) have left, and so coming in with a new team, it meant that we were training extra hard," he said.

"Coming off the water, was just a sense of relief that all the hard work has paid off!  It was worth it, all the effort we put into team racing and the hours and work put in the gym and stuff. Grit and hard work won it for us today.”

The trio were not the only Singapore sailors to win medals on Tuesday. 

A silver came in the women’s team racing dinghy laser radial, which saw debutants Simone Chen, 14 and Jillian Lee, 21, team up with Jessica Goh, 20 to finish second to Thailand in the final.

In the Under-16 mixed Optimist team event, Daniel Kei Yazid, Finian Lee, Max Victor Teo, Roh Koh and Radiance Koh beat Myanmar in the bronze-medal race to finish third. Apart from Daniel, the rest are all making their major Games debuts. 

In other events, women’s 470 duo Elisa Yukie Yokoyama and Cheryl Teo are ranked first out of five teams, men’s 470 pair Daniel Ian Toh and Xavier Ng are fourth out of six and Under-19 420 pair Koh Yi Nian and Wong Riji are joint-second out of five after two races each in each category.