59 S’pore athletes for Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, as organisers limit numbers
Veteran paddler Feng Tianwei will lead the charge for the table tennis team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. TODAY FILE PHOTO
SINGAPORE — The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia will see Team Singapore fielding its smallest ever contingent since the 2006 edition in Melbourne.
With the organisers introducing a “hybrid and transitional” model to cap the number of participants at the April 4 to April 15 event, Singapore will be represented by a total of 59 athletes across 12 sports.
At the last Games in Glasgow in 2014, 70 Singaporean athletes competed, while the 2010 and 2006 editions saw turnouts of 67 and 59 athletes respectively.
The Commonwealth Games Singapore (CGS) Selection Committee, chaired by CGS president Tan Chuan-Jin, met on Tuesday (Jan 23) to consider the nominations from the national sports associations and decide on the athletes who have qualified for the Games.
A press release by CGS stated that the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has introduced a new system to allocate athletes for the 2018 Games, with the participation of athletes from a select number of sports having to meet qualification criteria. This will be for badminton, para sports, beach volleyball and weightlifting.
The selection of athletes for the remaining sports will be done via its existing open-entry process.
Six athletes from Singapore in para sports, weightlifting and beach volleyball qualified through the first criteria, and the CGF allocated a quota of 53 athletes for the rest.
Veteran paddler Feng Tianwei, who won three gold medals at the 2014 Games, will lead the charge for the men’s and women’s table-tennis teams as they look to better their six gold-medal haul from the previous edition in Scotland.
Shooters Teo Shun Xie and Jasmine Ser, who won gold respectively in the women’s 10m air pistol and 50m rifle three positions, will also be aiming for glory in Australia.
However, fans will not get to see Olympic hero Joseph Schooling and his teammates Quah Zheng Wen and Quah Jing Wen in action at the Commonwealth Games. The trio, who are studying in the United States, will not be competing at the Games as it is too close to the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship meet in March.
Schooling had earlier said in a statement issued by the Singapore Swimming Association that skipping the Games will allow him to “concentrate fully on the Asian Games and ensure that I put in my best performances for Singapore in Jakarta”.
Three swimmers, namely Darren Lim, Quah Ting Wen, Roanne Ho, will compete at the Games.
CGS secretary-general Chris Chan said: “It was not an easy task for the Selection Committee to keep the numbers within the 53-athlete allocation limit. We hope we are able to obtain more athlete slots after the re-allocation exercises conducted by the organisers.
“We are pleased to see our athletes in sports like Beach Volleyball and Lawn Bowls making their Commonwealth Games debut, and look forward to the athletes competing together with their para counterparts as one Team Singapore contingent.”
At the 2014 Games, Team Singapore’s 70-strong contingent returned home from Glasgow with a total medal haul of eight gold, five silver and four bronze medals.
