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SINGAPORE : The 2008 Olympic Games loom large now, after Team Singapore's outstanding performance at the 24th SEA Games in Thailand.
With a record haul of 43 gold medals, and with 192 of the 423-strong contingent aged 21 and below, the future is bright for Singapore sport.
Speaking to Today at Changi Airport Terminal 2 on Sunday, where he met the official Team Singapore contingent returning from Thailand, Singapore Sports Council chief executive officer Oon Jin Teik said: "The athletes did very well at the SEA Games and met the expectations.
"Our progress and preparations for the Olympics are coming along nicely.
"The competition at the Olympics is very intense and we can't be complacent. We will need to fine-tune our preparations in the last few months leading up to the 2008 Olympics … the athletes have got to work their butt off."
Singapore's table tennis women came agonisingly close to Olympic glory on the last two occasions.
At the Sydney Games in 2000, Jing Junhong went all the way to the semi-finals, but ended up fourth. The heartbreak was repeated in Athens in 2004 when Li Jiawei succumbed in the semis and bronze medal playoff.
In Beijing, the table tennis women look to be the best bet for a medal once again, quite possibly in the team event.
World No 14 Sun Beibei, 2007 SEA Games women's singles champion Wang Yuegu (world No 8) and Li (No 6) are making steady progress.
They dispatched South Korea and Japan to finish second behind China at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Yangzhou in August.
While Beijing 2008 may be a long shot for Project 0812 sailors, the 470 men's pair of Chung Pei Ming and Roy Tay, the reigning Asian Games champions, continued to show their prowess by bagging gold at the SEA Games.
Said Chung: "We're moving on to the Olympics after this and we'll be joining the rest of the Olympic team based in Sydney.
"The SEA Games has helped to build our confidence … and it has definitely improved us tactically and technically."
Other big-name Singapore athletes in Beijing next August will be swimmer Tao Li, thrower Zhang Guirong and shooter Lee Wung Yew, all of whom tasted success at the SEA Games level.
Tao Li, 17, was the toast of the 22-strong swimming contingent at the SEA Games, winning four of the 11 gold medals.
Two-time SEA Games (2003, 2005) gold medallist Zhang defended her shot put title with a throw of 17.21m in Korat, meeting the Olympic 'B' qualifying mark.
While the distance is way off her 2005 national record mark of 18.57m, it is 63cm better than her 2004 Olympic performance in Athens.
Veteran marksman Lee, 41, won his 16th SEA Games gold medal when he teamed up with Mohd Zain Amat and Choo Choon Seng in the men's trap team event.
He will be going into intensive training from now to be in the best shape possible for the Olympics.
SEA Games chef-de-mission Low Teo Ping believes Singapore has a chance of ending a 48-year Olympic medal drought - weightlifter Tan Howe Liang won a silver at the 1960 Olympics in Rome - when he said: "Anybody has a chance at the Olympics as the playing field is level.
"Sports like shooting, sailing, swimming, table tennis and badminton … their preparations and training are in full swing for the Olympics." - TODAY
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