S’pore Open foul-up: National runner Cheryl Chan suffers injury after officials’ blunder
National runner Cheryl Chan competing in the women's 3000m steeplechase at the 80th Singapore Open Track and Field Championships at the National Stadium. Photo: Singapore Sports Hub Facebook page
SINGAPORE — An error by technical officials during the women’s steeplechase at the 80th Singapore Open Track and Field Championships last week resulted in national runner Cheryl Chan tearing a ligament in her left foot, and ruling her out of action for about four months.
Chan, who holds the national steeplechase record of 11min 27.04sec, was gunning for a new mark at the National Stadium last Wednesday (April 11). But the 22-year-old saw her hopes dashed after the blunder, a situation described by coaches and athletes here as “unprofessional” and “embarrassing”.
The runner told TODAY that officials had not adjusted the height of the steeplechase barriers after the men’s event from 0.914 metre to 0.762m for the women’s final. This resulted in her landing awkwardly on her left foot after jumping over the second barrier about 300m into the race.
Runners in the 3000m steeplechase race have to complete 28 barriers and seven water jumps.
“I didn’t realise it (the barrier) was at the men’s height and I couldn’t stop in time,” said Chan, who is 1.53-metre tall.
“The men’s height is almost as tall as me. I landed awkwardly and a sharp pain shot up my leg.”
Despite the pain, Chan went on to finish the race in second place in 11:27.72, 0.68sec shy of her previous national record clocked at the Australia Bankstown All-Comers Invitational in February this year.
There were only two participants in the race, which was won by Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Oanh in a new championship record time of 10:42.53.
Chan was subsequently diagnosed with a torn ligament in her left foot, which will be in a cast for eight weeks. The runner, who is based in Sydney where she is pursuing a post-graduate degree in veterinary medicine, will be not be able to train or compete for about three to four months.
Chan will also miss out on the cross-country season in Australia as a result of the injury, which put paid her aim of bettering the national 10km record of 36min 27.39sec clocked by Yvonne Danson in 1995.
She added: “I was confident that I could break the national (steeplechase) record and it was my last race of the track season. My coach and I were aiming for me to peak for this race and I was in good form so this is a bummer.”
Singapore Athletics general manager Yip Ren Kai told TODAY that the incident was caused by “miscommunication between technical officials which resulted in the race starting without the whole course being set up properly”.
He said: “It was fully our fault, and there is no one else to blame. We have apologised to the athlete, and at the same time given her the support she needs to get back to full fitness.”
The national sports association will reimburse Chan for her medical expenses, including the costs of her physiotherapy sessions and surgery — if required — added Mr Yip.
Singapore Athletics is the organiser of the annual marquee event, which also sees participation from foreign athletes from countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar. This year’s meet at the Singapore Sports Hub was also held in conjunction with the National Schools Games 59th Track and Field Championships.
While coaches and athletes TODAY spoke to said this is the first time that a blunder by technical officials has led to injury, they were concerned that such an incident had occurred during a national championship.
Former national distance runner Ganesan Elangovan, who had coached Chan before she moved to Australia to study, said the slip-up was “bad on the management’s part”.
He revealed that there were past instances when the water jump pit were not filled up completely, but this was the first time a barrier had not been adjusted properly.
“It was very unprofessionally organised… this is an open championship, and the most important thing is to ensure the safety of the athletes,” said Elangovan, 43, who has been coaching since 2000.
An ex-national athlete, who did not want to be named, said the officials “cannot be blamed as most of them are volunteers”.
However, he added: “It’s a pity that this happened at the Singapore Open, which is a premier event. It’s embarrassing because there are other nations here competing.”
The former athlete also pointed to an incident at the Singapore Open in 2015, where false starts marred the men’s 100m and 110m hurdles as a number of national athletes gunning for SEA Games were disqualified. They included sprinter Timothee Yap and Gary Yeo, a silver medallist in the men’s 100m at the 2011 SEA Games.
Addressing the concerns, Mr Yip said: “We have taken steps to ensure that communications between officials is clearer. Besides the starter, there is the starter’s assistant who should be looking around to make sure that everything is in order.
“We are going to take a couple more steps to ensure everything is ok before the race start.”
