| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: It's three more months to the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
And Singapore's athletes are looking to beat their previous Games tally of 27 medals including eight golds.
The Guangzhou Games are set to be the biggest Asiad ever, with more competition events and athletes taking part.
There will be 42 sports, including 14 non-Olympic events.
For the first time, women's events have been included for sports such as boxing, kabbadi and water polo.
Among the 14,000 athletes and team officials are representatives from Singapore - no doubt hoping to surpass their record showing in Doha in 2006.
Bowling, sailing and table tennis will be closely-watched events. Medal hopes are also high for swimming.
Singapore's head coach for swimming, Ang Peng Siong, said: "Definitely we see the strength in the women's team, with Tao Li, (Quah) Ting Wen, Amanda (Lim). So we do hope to make an impact on the relays also, besides the individual events."
The pressure is on for Tao Li to retain her gold medal in the 50-metre butterfly event.
And it will be tough, as training had taken a back seat to her studies after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Still, the 20-year-old said she relishes the challenge.
She said: "I have pressure, but I hope it can be a motivation for me as well.
"I'm always confident in myself, because being an athlete you must be confident in yourself so you can compete in the higher levels, and not be mentally down.
"You walk there with confidence and no one can beat you."
About three million tickets will be available to the public, and these are mostly priced between 10 and 400 yuan, or between S$2 and S$90.
Events like table tennis and gymnastics saw a strong response during the initial phase of sales in May, but organisers say there will still be tickets available to the public when the final round of sales begins in October.
The Games will run from 12-27 November.
- CNA/ir
|
