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S’pore sailors Cheng, Yin may opt out of Tokyo 2020

SINGAPORE — They had dedicated the last eight years of their lives training extensively for both the London Olympics in 2012 as well as the recently concluded Rio Games, and often made sacrifices in their personal lives to be ready for the Olympic stage.

National sailors Colin Cheng and Elizabeth Yin. TODAY file photos

National sailors Colin Cheng and Elizabeth Yin. TODAY file photos

SINGAPORE — They had dedicated the last eight years of their lives training extensively for both the London Olympics in 2012 as well as the recently concluded Rio Games, and often made sacrifices in their personal lives to be ready for the Olympic stage.

The decision to pursue another arduous Olympic campaign for the Tokyo 2020 Games, however, is now up in the air for experienced national sailors Colin Cheng and Elizabeth Yin, as they begin to take stock of their long-term sporting goals following the end of their Rio voyage.

The only Singaporean sailor to have competed in three Olympics is Siew Shaw Her, who took part in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Games.

Having put his studies on hold in order to train full-time for the Olympics, Cheng — who is in the final year of his Bachelor of Science degree in nanotechnology at the University of New South Wales — said his main focus for now is on completing his studies.

“At the moment, I want to complete my university degree. I still have one year of honours. After that we’ll see how things go,” said the 26-year-old, who took a total of four years off from his studies to train for the London and Rio Olympics.

“I also haven’t been able to spend much time with my family over the past four years, so it’s nice for me to come back home and spend time with them. As of now, I haven’t quite decided yet if I want to campaign for another Olympics. Emotions are still be running high (from the Rio Olympics), so I’ll take a while to think about (my next step).”

Likewise, Yin intends to finish her university studies before making a decision on the Tokyo Olympics. The 23-year-old’s decision will also hinge on how well she works with her next coach, after having parted ways with current trainer, Englishman Ian Clingan, at the end of the Rio Games.

“I’ve decided to part ways with my coach Ian Clingan — we’ve been working together for a few years and we decided something new was needed after Rio,” Yin told TODAY.

“I haven’t found a new coach yet because I haven’t decided if I’ll be continuing till the next Olympics. Tokyo 2020 is another four-year commitment, which is a long time and I’m not sure yet if it’ll be worth it.”

Ahead of Rio, both sailors had set themselves the target of finishing in the top 10 and being involved in the medal race. While they both fought valiantly against the challenging conditions at Guanabara Bay, Cheng, who competed in the Laser Standard, eventually placed 20th out of 46 boats, while Laser Radial sailor Yin finished 26th in a 47-strong field.

Admitting that he endured a “difficult” time in Rio, Cheng said: “We knew that Rio would pose a very unique challenge with conditions both inshore and offshore, so we spent a lot of time trying to acclimatise.

“I had some decent comebacks from difficult positions during the races. But, at the end of the day, if I can’t get the start of the race right, it’s hard to fight back against a fleet of such high quality.

“Overall, I probably did not perform to my greatest potential, but I tried my best so I’m still reasonably happy with my performance, and I came away with valuable lessons learnt.”

Yin also acknowledged that she could have done better in Rio. “My performance wasn’t very good, it wasn’t up to expectations and I just couldn’t find the flow. I probably need to be better at blocking everything else out before a race in future.

“So if I do campaign for Tokyo 2020, I’ll do it differently. I’ll spend more time having more focused-based training camps instead of sailing full-time all the way. This will allow me to devote some time in between to do my physical training, which is something that I felt was lacking for the Rio campaign.”

Looking to the future

Cheng and Yin, along with six other members of Singapore’s sailing contingent returned to the country from Rio on Wednesday (Aug 24) morning and were greeted at Changi Airport Terminal 3 by close to 50 supporters, which included Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin, and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu.

A total of 10 Singapore sailors competed in Rio — the largest-ever sailing contingent Singapore has sent to the Games — out of which eight were making their debuts at the Olympics.

Among the debutants were 49erFX sailors Griselda Khng and Sara Tan, who performed admirably to finish 15th out of 20 boats, and even managed to secure three top-10 finishes from their 12 races.

Having trained full-time for the Rio Games, both Khng and Tan — both 25 — will be looking to do the same again as they begin their journey towards Tokyo 2020.

“We’re definitely looking at Tokyo 2020 and, to do an Olympic campaign, you have to train full-time,” said Khng.

“You can’t do it without putting your whole heart, soul and mind into preparing for the Games.

“For now, we’re going to take a little break. Sara’s going back to school to study — she’s got one more year before she graduates — and after that we’ll sit down and plan how to proceed together with our coach to ensure that, the next time we compete at the Olympics, we’ll do it right.”

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