Schooling, Yip deserve to be rewarded equally

I am surprised and appalled that some observers still have the opinion that Yip Pin Xiu’s Paralympic achievements are not as great as Joseph Schooling’s Olympic achievement, which they claim is superior because he needed to defeat more opponents.

This is a case of comparing apples and oranges. By the same token, should Schooling, who swam three rounds to win, be rewarded and celebrated less than Olympic footballers, who must play six matches before winning gold?

These observers have also stated that Yip’s events had fewer participants than in Schooling’s event, and so her achievements may not be as monumental.

So should an able-bodied Singaporean female wrestler who wins gold be celebrated less than Schooling because of the smaller field of female wrestlers? Yet, she would still get S$1 million in prize money for an Olympic gold.

Both Schooling and Yip cannot control how many athletes they compete against to win their medals. What is important is that both emerged as the best in their respective fields.

It would be right to reward them equally, as Malaysia has done for its Paralympians. By not doing so, the authorities might be showing that they are less proud of our Paralympic champions than of our Olympic champions.