SINGAPORE — National sailor Darren Choy misses the spotlight. A magnet for the media boats at the pinnacle of his sailing career, the 21-year-old first shot to fame when he was only 15, winning back-to-back world titles in the Byte CII class. He entered the inaugural 2010 Youth Olympics Games (YOG) in Singapore as the sailing contingent’s poster boy as well as a gold-medal favourite.

But Choy failed to live up to the hype in front of an expectant home crowd, finishing in seventh place and inevitably falling off the radar. He admits that his lowest point was probably during the 2013 SEA Games in Myanmar when he and his partner Joel Pang could only manage a bronze-medal finish in the men’s 470 dinghy Olympic class.

Choy split with Pang shortly after — citing differences in personality — and partnered Nathan Tang, but the duo also parted ways after a string of poor results.

Choy then went through a period of disillusionment and self-doubt, and almost gave the sport up last February when he stopped training for seven months.

But a desire for redemption simmered deep within, and he soon realised there was no better way to bounce back than on home soil at the forthcoming June 5 to 16 SEA Games. Furthermore, with a new sailing partner in good friend Jeremiah Yeo, Choy believes their chemistry will yield results at the regional and international levels.

“It was a tough period that I went through. After the bronze at the 2013 SEA Games and not making the 2014 Asian Games, it wasn’t hard for me to make that decision of retiring,” Choy told TODAY.

“It (the 2015 SEA Games) is a good chance for me to show Singaporeans that I can still do it and redeem myself,” he said.

“It is a different pressure this time competing in front of a home crowd, compared to 2010. I am more excited to perform well here this time, after a disappointing YOG.”

Choy and Yeo — who are under the tutelage of Daniel Smith, a former coach of the Dutch 470 team — are targeting a gold medal.

Choy, who recently graduated from Republic Polytechnic and missed his convocation last week as he was in Europe, had his National Service enlistment date postponed until after the SEA Games in July.

“I want to be on the world stage again,” said Choy. “Right now, Miah (Jeremiah) and I are focused on the SEA Games, but I see a lot of potential in us if we can have solid training with no disruption.”

Cautious about adding unnecessary pressure to his crop of sailors — which includes Singapore’s youngest Asian Games champion, 14-year-old Jodie Lai, 2014 Youth Olympic gold medallists Bernie Chin and Samantha Yom, as well as world youth champion and Asian Games gold medallist Savannah Siew — Singapore Sailing Federation president Ben Tan declined to reveal their medal target.

However, he is optimistic about a good showing from the 32-strong Singapore sailing team heading into the Games — the largest contingent the Republic has ever fielded in the biennial event.

“Darren thinks things in the big picture, not only the SEA Games, but also the Olympics,” said former national sailor Tan, who won the Laser gold medal at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.

“As an athlete, it is about getting to the pinnacle of the sport. There are smaller platforms to prove yourself, and Darren needs to get the SEA Games out of the way, too. As long as he believes, he can achieve big things.”