Dinah Chan undaunted by accident

SINGAPORE — A regular morning training session at the East Coast Park (ECP) nearly turned into tragedy for national cyclist Dinah Chan yesterday.

The 27-year-old was in an accident involving a car making a right turn near Fort Road as she was entering the ECP Service Road on her bicycle.

She was sent by ambulance to the Changi General Hospital suffering from a minor concussion, swollen and bleeding lips, a bloody nose and fractured and chipped teeth. She was expected to spend a night in hospital for observation but expects to be back for light training on a stationary bike in a day’s time.

According to Chan’s younger sister Jocelyn, the woman driver had stopped to provide assistance and her contact details, and has lodged a police report.

“It was definitely a shock for me when I received Dinah’s message about the accident,” the 24-year-old told TODAY.

“Dinah said she had right of way ... she remembered seeing the car coming in the opposite direction and wondering why it was moving so fast. She woke up in the ambulance and even in the hospital, everything was still a blur for her. Fortunately, it is not so serious.”

The three-time SEA Games bronze medallist (2009 and 2011) had taken a semester off from her job as a physical education teacher at Broadrick Secondary School to train full-time for the SEA Games in Myanmar in December.

Chan is the sole woman representative in Singapore’s six-strong cycling squad, which includes Darren Low, Ho Jun Rong, Low Ji Wen, Goh Choon Huat and Tan Hong Chun and will compete in six events at the Myanmar Games.

And the accident is unlikely to stop her from pursuing her dreams of competing. She is penciled in for the women’s 20km individual time trial and 100km individual road race.

The national road champion is also looking to better her performances from the last two SEA Games, where she won a bronze in the 110km road race at the 2011 SEA Games, and two bronzes in the 25km individual time trial from the 2009 and 2011 SEA Games.

“This is a small road block and, thank God, there were no broken bones. I’m glad to be alive and will be back in training as soon as possible,” said Chan, who finished eighth in the Asian Road Cycling Championships in New Delhi in March.

“I hope this won’t affect my plans too much, and I am definitely still very determined to do well at the SEA Games.”