KUALA LUMPUR — Singapore doubled their gold medal tally at the 29th SEA Games in sailing on Tuesday afternoon (Aug 29) after winning the men’s laser standard and women’s laser radial titles.

Ryan Lo won his first individual gold at the Games, while Jillian Lee struck gold on her Games debut on a fruitful day in Langkawi, which also brought a silver from Bernie Chin in the men’s laser radial and bronzes from Victor Teo and Radiance Koh in the Under-16 men’s and women’s optimist respectively.

Lo, who won the team gold in the laser standard last Tuesday (Aug 22), and also has a silver in the same event from his debut in 2015, could barely express his delight at the win.

“It feels really great and it’s beyond words, I came here hoping to achieve two gold medals and I’m glad I managed to do it and I’m really thankful,” the 20-year-old said.

Currently serving National Service (NS) as a combat engineer, Lo was grateful that he had been allowed half a day off to train daily for the past three months in the lead-up to the Games.

“I’m really happy but I need to thank a lot of people who have helped me along my journey – God, my parents, siblings, the Singapore Sailing federation, Sport Singapore and the guys in my army depot and Mindef,” he added.

Lo, who will complete his NS next July, is looking forward to bigger things.

“I need to prepare myself for the world championships in one week and I need to focus again,” he said. “The next big one will be the Asian Games (next year) and then the Olympic qualifiers, then eventually Tokyo 2020.”

For 21-year-old Lee, individual triumph was especially sweet after she had missed it in the team laser radial last Tuesday. 

“After a disappointing silver medal in the team racing event, I was really determined to give it my all to win the individual event,” the National University of Singapore student said.

“It pushed me to really deliver my best racing. The standard in South-east Asia is high and I was up against an Olympian in the Malaysian (Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif). I had to dig deep to pull this one out and I'm very happy to do Singapore proud.”

She added: “My parents played a key role in this and I want to say thank you to them. My coaches and the federation are also some people I'm grateful to.”

While the colour of her medal was not gold, Radiance’s bronze was remarkable as the 13-year-old became Singapore’s youngest medallist at this Games.

The Nanyang Girls High student, also the youngest athlete in the Republic’s 568-strong contingent, admitted she had targeted a medal.

“I feel very satisfied with my bronze because at the start of the event I was aiming for a podium position and I did it,” she told TODAY.

“I feel that my experience has been a very fulfilling one and I’ve learned more about the support system and how the races go.

“My future plans are to keep going for my sailing career and hopefully it will blossom. I'll definitely want to go for another major event so I can do Singapore proud.”