SINGAPORE - Four youths who excelled despite their hearing impairment were given awards by the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) last Saturday.

Outram Secondary School student Muhammad Syafiie Mohamad Roslan, 16, won the Outstanding Deaf Sportsman, while three others - Mr Then An Zhi, 20; Grace Tern Jia Wen, 16; and Khor Whey Yinn, 12 - were presented with the Outstanding Deaf Student awards.

Ms Katherine Ho, who taught Mr Then when he was studying at the School of Information Technology at the Nanyang Polytechnic, said: “Despite all these inconvenience, Mr Then remains a highly motivated, determined and responsible student. He has shown exceptional drive to excel in his academic studies, consistently outperforming his peers. He has maintained his top 10 ranking within his cohort of 156 students for the past five semesters.”

Muhammad Syfiie is a water polo goalkeeper who has participated in many competitions like the National Inter-school Water Polo in Singapore, King’s Cup Water Polo Competition in Bangkok, Malaysian Open Water Polo Competition in Malaysia and Barker Challenge Water Polo in Singapore.

His teacher Lee Suet Har Casey said: “In the sports of water polo every player needs to listen carefully to the coach’s instruction. Syafiie uses his eyes all the time trying to understand. He works so hard that he was our first choice as goal keeper. He was selected to enter the National U-17 team.”

SADeaf Patron, Ms Ho Ching, was the guest of honour and Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng, MP for Jalan Besar GRC, also attended the event.