KUALA LUMPUR – Extra, extra special.

That was how Singaporean wushu exponent Jowen Lim described his SEA Games gold medal win on Monday morning (Aug 21) after topping nine other competitors in the men’s optional daoshu and gunshu event.

It was a memorable triumph for the 18-year-old as it was his first individual one at the Games, having won the men’s duel weapons two years ago on home soil.

“If I didn’t have my teammates there to compete and train with me, I wouldn’t get that (team) gold medal so the credit cannot just go to me,” he said. “I was really quite happy and smiled a lot as I didn’t expect to win the gold medal (this time).”

The Republic Polytechnic Year 2 student was a worthy winner though as he wowed the crowd at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre with a stunning display of blade-work in the daoshu portion to score 9.69. Combined with his 9.68 for the gunshu on Sunday – both scores were the highest in their own right – it was enough to clinch the Republic’s first gold in the sport at this Games.

Indonesia’s Achmad Hulaefi had threatened to snatch the gold with a 9.68 for the daoshu and the pressure was on Lim, as he was the last competitor. 

But he had an unusual way to deal with the situation – by not looking at the others’ performances.

“Usually when I’m behind my competitors, I will just turn my back as they do the routine,” Lim laughed. ”I’m scared it will affect me in some way (so) I’d rather not know the score.

“I will just try not to think about the medal. I’ve seen my teammates, when they really want to win, and sometimes it just takes over their feelings and they’re just too nervous to compete and they’ll just probably make a mistake or something. 

“It was my coach (who advised that) I shouldn’t look… as it (how they perform) doesn’t affect me at all, so why not just do my best like I do in training and just go all out, give my 110 per cent?”

Lim, who picked up wushu at five because it looked “cool and quite special” and made the national team at 11, added that he was grateful for the support of his parents and the national federation.

He added: “(I like that) it requires a lot of discipline and hard work. Hard work is something you need for every sport, and definitely perseverance because we get a lot of injuries here and there and we need to continue to persevere and train our best.”

Yong Yi Xiang finished fourth in the same event, missing out on bronze by a 0.01 margin.

Team-mate Zoe Mui, 19, picked up Singapore’s only other wushu medal of the day by scoring 9.64 to win bronze in the women’s optional daoshu.

“I just wanted to do my best and show everyone out here that even though I was out for one year, that I’m still as good as I used to be,” she said.